25 Days of Christmas
by Coopereid
Summary: A series of oneshots based on the 25 Days of Christmas Challenge, with several prompts and varied pairings. Rating possibly for later oneshots.
1. Mistletoe

**Author's Note:** Each chapter is going to be different pairings and situations, as it is a drabble challenge. Also, most stories are going to be bordering on oneshots, because I can never stop at 100 words.

This chapter's prompt was Mistletoe and the pairing is Emily/Spencer.

* * *

**I. Mistletoe**

Not many people knew, but Christmas was Emily's favorite holiday. She loved the smell of a Christmas tree, making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas specials, and the sight of red and green decorations pretty much everywhere she went. Growing up in several different homes, she'd always take it upon herself to decorate while her parents were working long hours. Unfortunately with her job at the BAU, the past couple of years, she barely had time to decorate because of the workload and several cases coming up. She swore to herself that this year was going to be different, and she'd get everything done that she wanted.

She got all of her decorations out of storage one afternoon and set the totes in her living room. She had just started opening the totes when there was a knock on the door. Raising an eyebrow, she walked over, opening the door. JJ walked in, holding Henry's hand, closely followed by Derek, Garcia, and Spencer.

She closed the door, turning to face them. "Not that I don't appreciate the visit after seeing all of you more than I've seen my apartment this past week, but… what are you doing here?"

Derek set a small stepstool down. "We heard that you were bummed about not getting to decorate the past few years, so we figured we'd give you a hand."

She smiled appreciatively. "Well, thank you."

JJ walked over to the TV, putting on some TV specials and sitting Henry down on the couch.

"Now, what can we do?" Garcia asked, clapping her hands together.

She motioned toward the totes. "Everything we need is in there."

Spencer took the lid off of one of the totes, looking through several ornaments. "…I can take care of this stuff with Henry if you'd like."

JJ ruffled Henry's hair. "Do you want to help Uncle Spencer?"

He nodded, jumping off the couch and walking over, taking Spencer's hand. "Let's do it!"

Emily smirked as Garcia looked through another, turning to Derek. "Sweetness – me and you, we'll take care of hanging up all of this fun stuff."

"Sounds like a plan, Baby Girl."

Emily watched as her apartment slowly came together, looking more and more like Christmas with every decoration. Spencer had Henry up on his shoulders, putting the star on top of the tree, while JJ decorated the mantle above her fireplace, and Derek and Garcia were pinning up garland and wreaths.

Spencer held up an ornament, turning to Emily. "Is this you?"

She glanced over, laughing to herself. "That's my kindergarten class picture. The first ornament I ever made by myself."

Garcia peeked over, gasping. "Oh, you were such a little cutie with those pigtails!"

She blushed, taking the ornament and hanging it up. She then pointed to the box, looking at him. "There's a little white sparkly ornament in there. It's tradition that I put that one up, so leave it alone? It's my grandmother's."

He gave her a thumbs up, looking at Henry. "It's your job to remember."

"Okay!"

With everyone's help, it wasn't long before all of the decorations were out and her apartment felt like Christmas again. She turned up the TV, sitting down with the team and watching _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ while she waited for the food she ordered to get there. There was a knock on the door and she got up, walking to the door and opening it, taking the food from the deliveryman and setting it on the counter. She groaned.

"Shoot, I forgot my wallet." She turned to everyone in the living room. "Can someone grab my purse for me?"

"Got it." Spencer took Henry off of his lap, setting him down and grabbing Emily's purse, walking over and handing it to her. She thanked him, taking out her wallet and paying him, before stuffing her wallet back into her bag and closing the door.

"Can you help me with these?" she asked, pointing to the bags.

He nodded, picking up a few of the bags and turning back to the living room.

"Not so fast, lovebirds," Derek told them.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

He pointed to the ceiling. "You two have some unfinished business."

Spencer looked up and saw a sprig of mistletoe hanging just past the doorway.

"…Are we in 11th grade?" Emily asked, looking over at them.

Garcia shrugged. "It's unwritten law. Two people standing under the mistletoe equals kiss."

Emily turned to JJ. "You're not with them are you?"

"Sorry, it's a rule. And do you think Uncle Spencer and Aunt Emily should follow the rules?" JJ asked, rubbing Henry's arm.

He nodded, turning around. "You gotta follow the rules!"

Spencer set the bags on the counter, wrapping his arms around Emily's waist and kissing her. Taken by surprise, she raised her eyebrows, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

Neither of them noticed how long it had been until Derek very loudly cleared his throat. Emily blushed, pulling back and smiling. She pointed to the ceiling. "Okay, who set us up?"

Garcia held her hand up. "Guilty."

"It's about time, too." JJ said. "The tension between you two was starting to get ridiculous."

She scoffed, helping Spencer grab the bags and walking back to the living room, sitting down with him. "I really hate working with profilers."


	2. Hot Chocolate

**Prompt: **Hot Chocolate  
**Pairing: **Derek/Spencer  
**Rating: **K+

* * *

**II. Hot Chocolate**

Spencer looked out the front windows and saw Derek, bundled up and shoveling the walkway while Clooney ran around, jumping on top of the snow piles. He smiled to himself, knowing that Derek must be freezing, and wanted to make him something to warm up. Walking to the kitchen, he opened the cabinets until he found exactly what he was looking for. He filled up the kettle with water, setting it on the stove and turning on the burner. While that was warming up, he pulled on his jacket, pulling open the door and poking his head out.

"Do you want me to get Clooney out of your way?" he called out.

Derek turned to face him, moving his scarf that was wrapped around his mouth and neck. "He's fine out here. He knows not to leave the yard and he's just running around."

He glanced over and saw Clooney running across the yard, sinking into a snow pile and his head popping out of the snow. He chuckled, shaking his head and closing the door, going back to the kitchen.

Looking through the fridge, he took out the milk and whipped cream, setting them on the counter. He then grabbed one of the travel mugs from the cabinet, opening it and ripping the packet, pouring its contents inside. He also poured some into a mug for himself, wanting his own. He also dropped in a few chocolate peppermint candies at the bottom, so they'd melt and give it a minty taste. When the whistle started blowing on the kettle, he walked over to the stove, turning off the burner and picking up the kettle, pouring water into both mugs and stirring them. Once everything was mixed in, he poured in milk to cool it down. He then grabbed the whipped cream, turning the canister and spraying some into each of the cups, following it up with some chocolate sprinkles on top.

"Anyone ever told you that you should be a barista?" Derek asked, kicking his boots against the stairs before sitting down, untying them. He whistled and Clooney ran inside, shaking the snow out of his fur.

Spencer smirked. "What can I say? I'm a multifaceted genius."

"That you are." He rolled up the bottoms of his jeans and pulled off his socks, walking to the bathroom and throwing them in the hamper, before walking out to the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Spencer's waist and kissing his cheek. "All of this for me?"

"Well, I figured since you were doing all the hard work to be sure I didn't slip and bust my knee again on ice and snow, the least I could go is give you a little pick-me-up to warm you up."

"Emphasis on the _again_," Derek said, picking up his mug and taking a sip, humming to himself. "Delicious."

"You doubted me?" Spencer scoffed. "I'm hurt."

Derek laughed to himself, leaning over and kissing Spencer's cheek. "Not for a single second."

* * *

They were both in the kitchen, Spencer sitting up on the counter while Derek leaned against it, sipping what was left of his cocoa.

"What did you put in this?" Derek asked, motioning toward his mug.

"Packaged hot chocolate mix, mint candy, a little bit of whole milk, whipped cream, and sprinkles," Spencer said, listing off the ingredients and counting them on his fingers.

"Well, my compliments to the creator, because it's delicious." He raised his mug at Spencer before finishing it off, setting it in the sink. "But you do realize this goes in the fridge, right?" he asked, holding up the milk.

"I didn't have time to put everything back before you decided to track snow in the house."

Derek shook his head. "You're spending too much time with Garcia, because I'd swear, you just _sassed_ me."

He shrugged, taking the milk from him and putting it in the fridge. "There's worse I can learn from her." He closed the door and saw Derek with the whipped cream canister to his mouth. "_What_ are you doing?"

"Getting a snack." He sprayed some into his mouth before closing it, swallowing. "Want some?"

"…And exactly how often do you violate our whipped cream?"

"You mean to tell me you've _never_ snacked on whipped cream, just because?"

"No, why would I? It's meant for ice cream and beverages."

Derek shook up the can. "Open up."

He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Just trust me."

Spencer rolled his eyes, walking up to Derek and opening his mouth. Derek smirked, spraying in some of the whipped cream, before putting some on his nose, smiling to himself. Spencer swallowed, shaking his head. "This is not a battle you want to start, Derek."

"…Is that a challenge, Spencer Reid?"

He opened the fridge, taking out another canister from the shelf and opening it, shaking it. "Loser has to clean up the mess."

Derek chuckled."Game _on_."

If you asked Spencer who won, he did. If you asked Derek who won, he did. But both of them enjoyed a good laugh and forgetting the job for a while, acting like children and having fun for a change.

What wasn't fun to explain, however, was the whipped cream mess all over the house when Garcia came by to drop off some treats she'd bought for Clooney.

After walking inside and seeing Spencer blushing, she shook her head, wiping her hands in the air and putting them up. "What you two do in your couple time is _none_ of my business."


	3. Snow

**Prompt:**Snow  
**Pairing: **N/A

* * *

**III. Snow**

The team had just come home from an exhausting case in Nebraska, and Rossi had suggested going back to his mansion to unwind with a few drinks. Nobody rejected the idea and everyone grabbed their go-bags, immediately getting into their cars and cranking the heat. They all noticed that, while they were gone, D.C. had a pretty significant snowfall, so they were all careful while they were driving. Luckily, the people who take care of Rossi's home while he's gone had put down salt and shoveled, so nobody got hurt while parking or walking inside.

Everyone was enjoying the small break from work, sitting around and enjoying a glass of wine, bottle of beer, or if you were Rossi, some very well-aged scotch. They were engaged in small talk, and they had all called 'dibs' on guest rooms in the mansion, so they wouldn't have to drive home. After a while, Rossi looked around, eyebrow raised.

"Has anyone seen Hotch and Reid?"

Derek shrugged, taking a sip of his beer. "I saw Spencer call 'dibs' on the room next to the library, big surprise, and Hotch stepped outside to call Jessica to let her know that he'd be home in the morning. After that, I have no idea where they went."

JJ set her glass of wine down. "I'll go find out where they disappeared to." She stood up, walking upstairs and checking the numerous bedrooms. When they weren't in any of those, she walked downstairs, reaching for her jacket and pulling it on. "I'm gonna go check outside, see if they wandered out there."

Garcia gave her a thumbs up, before pulling her blanket tighter around herself and taking a sip of her wine. "Just don't get too much cold air in here."

"I'm glad you're concerned about me," she said, patting Garcia's arm and opening the back door, stepping on the deck. The next thing she knew, she was being hit with a snowball. Looking at the direction it came from, she saw Spencer ducking behind a snow pile and she rolled her eyes. "Come on, Spence. _Really_?" She brushed the snow off of her jacket, shaking her head. "You wonder why we treat you like a kid? _This_ is why!"

"Give me a break, I'm from Vegas. I'm still new to this whole 'snow' thing," he called out, staying hidden.

She rolled her eyes, and just as she finished pushing the snow off of herself, she was hit with another snowball. "Oh what the hell!"

"Wasn't me!" Spencer said, putting his hands up.

She looked on the opposite side of the yard and saw Hotch ducking. Shaking her head, she laughed to herself. "Oh it is _on_." She took her own position in the yard, starting to make snowballs.

Emily eyed the clock on Rossi's mantle, eyebrow raised. "JJ's been gone a while… what do you think happened?"

Garcia pointed to the yard. "She went back there. No idea where she went from there."

"Well her keys are right here, so she didn't drive home. Maybe she's on the phone with Will?" Derek suggested.

Rossi shrugged it off and looked out into his yard, surprised to see a snowball fly through the air, and soon saw another one coming from the opposite direction, and a third coming from elsewhere. "What the hell?" He got up, walking over to the back door and looking outside. Sure enough, his unit chief and two of his fellow agents were engaged in a full blown snowball fight. Chuckling, he walked over, grabbing his jacket.

"What's going on?" Emily asked, pointing to the backyard.

"Get your jackets," was all he said, before putting his boots on and walking out to the yard.

Everyone was confused, but they followed suit, putting on their jackets, shoes, and assorted winter accessories, Garcia completely decked out in a bright beanie, ear muffs, scarf, and mittens.

As they stepped into the backyard, JJ threw her arms up in victory. "Take _that_, Spence!"

He gasped. "I was on your side!" he shouted, brushing the snow off of the front of his jacket.

"She chose the better team," Hotch said with a shrug, throwing another snowball and giving JJ the time to run over to his hiding place.

Derek shook his head. "I can't let the Pretty Boy get creamed by the Pennsylvania Petite or the bossman." He immediately made a snowball, throwing it over at Hotch and running to Spencer, helping him make a stockpile of snowballs.

"I've got your back, Hotch," Rossi said with a laugh, walking over and making a few snowballs, setting them in his stack.

Emily eyed Garcia. "Which side are you taking, PG? We're about to be enemies."

"Oh?"

She lowered her voice. "One of us has to help the old-timers," she said, motioning toward Rossi, Hotch, and JJ. "She can't carry them."

"Good point." She pointed to the side of the yard they were on. "Apologize to my Chocolate Adonis, but they need me over there."

"Big mistake," Emily sing-songed. "I grew up in plenty of countries with snow, I'm just saying." She walked down the steps and over to Derek and Spencer, who were strategizing.

"...Where's my Baby Girl?"

She pointed to the other side of the yard. "She's the enemy."

He shook his head. "It's going to suck when we beat her."

"Indeed." She turned to Spencer. "Strategy?"

"Easy. The two of you have the better arms, so you throw while I make more snowballs, then when they least expect it, I sneak attack."

"Perfect."

Meanwhile, Rossi looked at Hotch. "How exactly did this start?"

"I knew Reid was a little stressed about how the case turned out, so I figured he needed a little bit of de-stressing. It was either this or alcohol, and considering he's not that much of a drinker? This seemed like the better option."

"Well, I totally approve, though I would've appreciated an official invite instead of being pelted by both sides," JJ said, eyeing Hotch.

He shrugged. "You were an easy target, sorry."

"You're lucky you're on my team, or you'd be getting a whitewash."

Garcia giggled, shaking her head and making snowballs. "We're lucky. They're outnumbered and they have Boy Wonder with his bad knee. We've got this easy."

Rossi nodded. "They don't stand a chance." When everyone looked over at him, he shrugged. "What? You think an old man like me can't throw?" He grabbed one of the snowballs. "The tree next to their hideout." He then gripped it, throwing it and hitting the tree dead on.

Garcia raised her eyebrows. "I _definitely_ chose the right team."

It was a long, well-fought battle for both sides. Everyone was smiling, laughing, having fun, and making the case the last possible thing on their minds. There was no winner, and instead, both teams withdrew when they were too tired to keep fighting. They all trumped inside, taking turns taking showers and warming up in front of the fireplace, before turning in for a good night's sleep.


	4. Candy Cane

**Prompt:** Candy Cane  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**IV: Candy Cane**

It wasn't often that JJ had to bring Henry to work, but when Will said he needed to pick up a shift and her nanny called in sick, that's exactly what she needed to do. After running it by Hotch, she was told that she could work out of one of the empty offices today, so Henry wouldn't go wandering in the bullpen and find something he shouldn't, thus giving him nightmares. When she got a text message from Will that he was downstairs, she got up from her desk, grabbing her badge.

"Mom duty calls?" Emily asked.

She nodded. "A sick nanny and Will picking up a shift for a sick co-worker. I swear, everyone needs to get flu-shots this winter, because they're inconveniencing me."

Emily laughed to herself. "We'll stop by for a visit in a bit. You're working out of Conrad's old office, right?"

"Yeah, it has absolutely _no_ files lingering around, a couch, and a TV to keep him occupied."

"Does Garcia know he's coming?" Spencer asked.

"Oh yes, and she says 'it's my godmotherly duty to come by and spoil my little man'." She shook her head. "As if my house isn't crowded _enough_ by her fulfilling her godmotherly duty."

"Good luck."

After getting Henry, JJ sent out a warning to everyone that they needed to clear their desks, because he wanted to say hi to his aunts and uncles. They all did as they were told and waited for JJ at their desks.

Emily eyed Spencer. "Seriously, how do you have a sweet tooth this early in the day?"

He shrugged, sucking on a candy cane. "Have you not seen how I take my coffee?"

She rolled her eyes. "You stock up on those, don't you, like some sort of crazy person?"

He took it out of his mouth. "It's not my fault they're only available two months out of the year."

"Are you going to share with the little man?"

"Of course." He pulled open one of the drawers in his desk to reveal that it was completely filled with candy canes. "He can have his pick."

"It amazes me that you still have all of your own teeth," she said, shaking her head and reaching over, taking one.

Henry had stopped by Derek's office, as well as seen Hotch and Rossi, and finally made his way to the bullpen. He was sitting on his godfather's desk, swinging his legs.

"Do you want some candy, Henry?" Spencer asked.

He nodded. "Please, Uncle Spence!"

Spencer smiled, moving Henry's legs and pulling the drawer open. "Take whatever you want."

Henry made a face, looking through the drawer and only seeing candy canes, before shaking his head. "No, thank you."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "A kid who _doesn't_ want candy? JJ, what have you done to this poor kid?"

She smiled slightly. "Henry's a little… scared of candy canes."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Show Uncle Spence, Henry."

Spencer looked at JJ, curious, before turning to Henry. He opened his mouth and pointed to a void where one of his teeth had been. "A cane tooked it."

Spencer rested a finger under Henry's chin, getting a better look. "Was that the first one?"

JJ nodded. "The nanny had given it to him before she left. I'm taking a bath and I hear a scream coming from his room. I immediately jump out, throw a towel on, and see him with a candy cane in one hand, his tooth in the other, and he looked petrified."

"...You do know not all candy canes are bad, right?" Spencer asked him.

"Yeah, he'd know. He's had six since he got here this morning." Emily commented.

Henry shook his head again, giving him another 'no thank you' before hopping off of the desk and taking his mother's hand, walking out of the bullpen with her.

"Okay, I've heard of a lot of fears, but _candy canes_?" Emily asked.

Spencer shrugged. "To each their own, I guess."

A while after Henry had arrived, Garcia had offered to take Henry off of JJ's hands so she could get some work done. After promising that he wouldn't see anything on the computer screens to cause nightmares, she was allowed to take him to her lair. The two of them were sitting on the couch, playing with some of the action figures from Garcia's desk.

"What's this I hear about candy canes hurting my little man?"

Henry set down his action figure, opening his mouth and pointing. "It tooked it!"

She checked it. "Wow, you lost a tooth this early? You're getting all grown up on me!"

He giggled, shaking his head. "No, I not!"

She smiled, ruffling his hair. "You know, it's not the candy cane's fault, buddy. These things happen naturally. When I was about your age? I was eating an apple and lost a tooth. I tried to blame apples, but you know what happened?"

He shook his head. "What?"

"I remembered how super yummy they were and knew I couldn't blame the food for what my body did. Are you _really_ going to give up raiding Uncle Spencer's candy drawer because of _one_ bad candy cane?"

He put a finger to his chin, dramatically thinking, before looking up at her and shaking his head.

"Thought so."

When Garcia returned Henry to JJ, he walked in proudly, sitting on the couch.

"Okay, what did you bribe him with?" she asked, closing her case file.

She shook her head. "Nothing, he just took a previous offer."

"...What previous offer?" She looked over at the couch and saw Henry pulling several handfuls of candy canes out of his backpack. JJ groaned, eyeing Garcia. "Seriously?"

She put her hands up. "I just used logic. He's the one who batted the eyelashes at his godfather."

JJ pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. "What are the odds he'll be scared of those again?"

"I'm not!" he announced, handing one to Garcia for her to open. Once she did, he thanked her, immediately sucking on it and smirking.

JJ exhaled. "When Spencer Reid has kids? I owe him one."


	5. Christmas Tree

**Prompt: **Christmas Tree**  
Pairing: **N/A

* * *

**V: Christmas Tree**

Because of the sensitivity of the 'Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays' debate, the BAU wasn't really allowed to decorate for Christmas. Not only that, but there was barely any time to get their actual work done, let alone spend their own money on decorations and put them up. Garcia, however, needed a bit more cheery-ness in her life, and vowed to have her own little celebration. When the team was on a flight back from a case, she brought in several shopping bags, decorating her office with as much red, green, and sparkles as possible. She also invested in a fake tree, so she could decorate it with a bunch of ornaments she didn't have room for on her tree at home.

Her phone went off and she reached over, reading a text that told her the team was on their way back to the office to finish the paperwork. Looking at her handywork, she smiled to herself, before sending a text back to Derek.

_Do you think I could borrow my big, strong, knight in shining armor to help me with a bit of a project I'm working on_?

Derek raised an eyebrow, picking up his phone and reading the message. _In your apartment, or at work?_

_Right in my office. I just need your height._

_Consider it done, sweetness._

_You're the greatest, Chocolate Thor._

He chuckled, shaking his head and tucking his phone into his pocket.

"What's up?" JJ asked.

"My Baby Girl needs my help on 'a bit of a project' in her office."

Hotch sighed, setting down his case file. "After the 'thing' with the tablets, I told her not to do any modifications."

"I'm sure it's harmless," Emily mumbled, still half asleep. "But one thing's for sure. We're definitely going to find out what it is sooner rather than later."

When they arrived at the BAU, the team took the elevator up.

"I need to finalize the paperwork for the case," Hotch started, "but can someone please inform me if she's done modifications that I need to cover up?"

Derek laughed to himself. "Consider it done. What about you, Rossi. You in?"

"I've got to make a call to Ringo - he owes me a rematch in Rock Band."

"I think I'll check it out," Spencer said. "It should be interesting."

"With Penelope Garcia, 'interesting' is an understatement," JJ stated, stepping off the elevator as the doors opened.

They separated and while Rossi and Hotch made their way into the bullpen, the rest of them took the turn to go to Garcia's lair. Derek knocked on the door and she quickly answered, taking his hand and pulling him inside.

"What are you in a rush for?" he asked.

"My tree is _almost_ finished, but I'm too short to put my angel on the top," she explained, handing it to him.

He looked down at him, eyebrow raised. "What is this thing?"

Emily glanced over. "It looks like an angel, but I think it's crying?"

Spencer's ears perked up and he walked over, peeking at it. "You're a Whovian?"

"Only the most devoted Whovian ever," she said, pointing to her tree. He looked at it and, sure enough, it was completely decked out with Doctor Who decorations: ornaments of different creatures such as Daleks, Cybermen, and K-9, along with a Tardis and blue lights everywhere, with a few green lights thrown in to signify Eleven's screwdriver.

"Ooh, what's this?" JJ asked, picking up an Adipose. "He's a cute little fluffy guy!"

"He's an Adipose, and technically, he's not cute and fluffy, he's a walking, babbling ball of fat."

She wrinkled her nose, putting it back.

Spencer took in all of the decorations, smiling at how much thought she'd put into this. "So, you're a K-9 fan?"

"Oh, definitely. I was so happy when Ten brought him back and then gave the fixed up version to Sarah Jane Smith."

He sat on the corner of her desk. "And I see you've included several colors of Daleks."

"Everything is well represented. Well, except the Cybermen, there's only one."

"As well there should be."

Derek raised his eyebrows. "So, creepy angel thing on the top?" he asked, holding it up.

"Yes, please, darling. But, it's not the creepy angel thing. It's called a weeping angel and it's terrifying. If you blink in front of one of them? Bam, you're gone."

"Just like that?"

She nodded, snapping her fingers. "Just like that."

"...And you two watch this show for _fun_?" Emily asked, looking between them.

Spencer nodded, watching the angel be put on top of the tree. "It's a great science fiction show about a time traveling timelord and his companions, who go back in history and forward several years in time to significant events, and-"

Derek put up his hand. "I think my paperwork is calling my name. Anyone else?"

JJ raised her hand. "I'm in."

Emily nodded. "Me too. You two, enjoy your… whatever this is."

Garcia gave her a thumbs up and after everyone left, pointed to every decoration and explained them to Spencer in great detail. This led to the two of them having an in depth discussion of their favorite doctors, their favorite Christmas specials, and an agreement that they would attend next year's convention together.


	6. Angel

**Prompt:** Angel  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**VI: Angel**

Garcia had offered her apartment for the team to gather together and talk about some of their Christmas memories. What she didn't inform them of, however, was a new tradition that she hoped to start. She'd set up a tree in the corner of her apartment: it was a fake white tree, covered in white lights and gold decorations, along with a golden angel at the very top. It was very uncharacteristic of her, but that had been the point of it. She wanted it to be pretty for its purpose.

Everyone arrived at her apartment on time, and they were all enjoying some takeout and wine in the living room. JJ was the first to speak up, pointing to the tree.

"What, so you put all the fun stuff in your office and left this poor tree undecorated?" she asked, setting down her wine glass on a coaster.

Garcia shrugged. "There's actually a good reason for it, and I was hoping you could all help me with something."

Derek looked at her, curious. "What is it?"

She reached for a box under the couch, picking it up. "I know the holidays are a time of celebrating and being happy and spending time with family, but I think with this job, we need a little something else."

"Did you do another 'thing'?" Hotch asked.

She smirked. "Sort of. I hope you guys don't mind, but I did, in fact, do a thing." She took out several handmade ornaments, setting them on the table. "I think, every year, we should take a night to remember the people we love who can't be here to celebrate the holidays."

Rossi was the first to reach out, taking the ornament with his name and inspecting it. It was a small white ornament with a picture in the middle, and he was surprised that Garcia had the skills to acquire the photo: it was Carolyn with their son shortly after he'd been born. He smiled, running his finger over the picture.

"I really hope you're not mad," she spoke up, reaching out and taking his hand, squeezing it. "This is so we can remember the good times, I promise, and if you don't want to be a part of it, I understand."

He shook his head. "I appreciate it, kitten." He squeezed her hand back and gave her a smile, getting up and hanging the ornament on the tree.

"And my turn?" she reached out, taking a silver ornament off of the table. "My parents, the free spirits. I'd like to think if they were still alive today, they'd be telling me that I shouldn't be working for 'the man', though they'd be proud of my vegetarianism." She smirked, reaching over and hanging it.

"I'm sure they'd love how much of a character you are, Baby Girl," Derek said, eyeing the picture of his father and putting it up. "And my Dad would be glad that I have good people like you in my life."

Spencer grabbed the ornament with his name off of the table, turning to Garcia. "How did you- I never talked about him at work."

"I have my ways."

He saw the curious looks on everybody's faces and turned it around, showing a picture of an older man. "His name was Professor Chapman, and he's the person who introduced me to Gideon."

"How did he know Gideon?"

"They were old friends." He smiled. "He pulled me aside after class one day and he told me he wanted to introduce me to a colleague of his. I went along with it, met him and Gideon for coffee in the student lounge, and the rest is history. If it wasn't for Professor Chapman, I wouldn't be in the FBI." He glanced at Garcia. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, and let me just say, I'm glad you didn't blow him off. Because you, junior g-man, are my favorite genius."

He quirked an eyebrow before smirking, shaking his head and hanging it up.

Emily saw a picture of Tsia and Sean and looked at Garcia, simply just mouthing a 'thank you' and smiling to herself. Meanwhile, Hotch was looking down at a picture of Haley in his hand and stroked her cheek with his finger.

"I tell Jack every day that his mother's looking out for him," he started, eyeing Garcia. "I think he'll really appreciate this idea. Next year, do you mind if he comes to hang it up?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. The more, the merrier… people celebrating people, not, you know, people going on the tree. And this has taken a turn for the awkward, so I'm just going to," she said, motioning a zipper over her mouth and closing it.

"It's fine," he told her, putting it up toward the top, next to the angel and grinning. "This is one of the best 'things' you've ever done."

JJ nodded her agreement, picking up a picture of her older sister. "I'm with Hotch on this one."

Garcia held up her wine glass, looking around at the team. "To all of us, for making it through yet another year of serial killers and other not-so-pleasant things on the job, and still holding onto our sanity, however the hell it happened."

Derek laughed, raising his glass higher. "To Officer Morgan of the Chicago PD."

JJ raised hers. "Rosaline Jareau."

"Tsia Mosley and Sean McCallister."

"Professor Chapman."

"Mr. and Mrs. Garcia."

"Carolyn and James David Rossi."

Hotch looked around at his team, smiling before raising his own glass. "And Haley Hotchner."  
**They all clinked their glasses together and took a sip of their drinks, spending the rest of their evening talking about memories of the people they lost. Nobody said it out loud, but it was a tradition they were all looking forward to.**


	7. Pie

**Prompt:** Pie  
**Pairing:** Derek/Emily

* * *

**VII: Pie**

Derek's favorite part of the holidays, by far, was his mother's pecan pie. Unfortunately, because the BAU was always busy around the holidays, he never made it home. He'd bought different kinds from several stores and bakeries, but nothing compared. Maybe it was because she had a special ingredient he didn't know about, or maybe just the fact that his mother had made it, but nothing else came close to what he really wanted. Emily knew how much he wanted it and vowed to make it happen for him this Christmas. She called up his mother, and after little persuading, was able to get her exact recipe.

One afternoon, Derek had offered to help Spencer fix something in his apartment, which gave her the perfect opportunity to start baking. She was sure that she had all of the ingredients beforehand, and as soon as he left the apartment and saw his car leaving, got to work. She pulled down all of the ingredients from the cabinets, as well as taking a few other things out of the fridge. In the past, Emily had never been very successful in the kitchen, but she figured this would be the perfect opportunity to turn it all around.

She read over the recipe several times, hoping to retain it. She had to make the dough on her own, which she wasn't overly fond of, considering she'd bought several pre-made crusts at the store, but she'd do whatever it took to make Derek happy. The recipe told her that the crust should resemble cornmeal, but to her, it just looked like a giant blob. Rather than question it, she went along with the recipe, continuing it as if she didn't make a mistake. She also decided to make a few more, because the cooking time was over 40 minutes after the crust, and she didn't have the time to make several consecutively.

After making three separate doughs for the crust, she put each of them into a pan and put them in the freezer to set. She didn't want to call up Mrs. Morgan and bother her with the little details, so she tried to fix everything up herself, and understand the directions the best that she could. Once she set up the racks in the oven, she preheated it and took the crusts out of the freezer, putting them in once it came to temperature. Just as a precaution, she left the oven light on to keep an eye on how they were doing.

While the crusts were cooking, she worked on the filling. Because she made several crusts, she multiplied the recipe times three, hoping to make it a little easier on herself. She boiled the butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup, stirring it and letting it sit for a few minutes. With every single step, she read and re-read the recipe, sure that she was on the right track. She took it off of the stovetop and stirred in the rest of the ingredients. There were no notes on how it was supposed to look, so she figured she was doing a good job. Filling up the pie crusts, she put them into the oven and set the timer, before walking to the living room and turning on the TV, flipping through and landing on a Christmas special.

Derek walked up the stairs to Emily's apartment, slightly amused at the fact that Spencer had needed his help to put together a TV stand and set up his new TV. That had taken him little time, so he decided to get some Christmas shopping done for afterward, grabbing gifts for Emily, his sisters, and his mother. The two of them had been together for a few years now, and it had been smooth sailing. Derek had needed someone to ground him, but not somebody who would put him on a pedestal and treat him as superior. Instead, he needed someone to knock him down when he needed it and bring him back to reality.

He took the keys to the apartment out of his pocket, and could smell smoke. Assuming that Cheryl down the hall had been using incense, he shrugged it off and unlocked the door, stepping inside. He noticed smoke coming from the kitchen and set down his bags, running over. What he found was Emily sitting on the floor in front of the stove, her head buried in her hands, three burned pans of something on top of the stove. Raising an eyebrow, he sat beside her, rubbing her arm.

"Are you okay?"

She sniffed, biting down on her lip and shaking her head. "I tried."

"...You tried to burn down the apartment?" he asked. "If you hated it that much, you just could've moved."

She smiled slightly, sniffing and elbowing him. "_No_. I know how much you miss home on the holidays, and I wanted to give you something to make you think of home, so I called your mom and I got the recipe for her pecan pie. I made three just so I could pass _one_ off as edible, and they all burned." She exhaled, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry, I couldn't do it."

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head and pulling her into a hug. "Just the fact that you _tried_ to do that for me means the world to me."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "So I guess you won't be marrying Betty Crocker," she mumbled.

He chuckled. "I guess we'll just call on Garcia to make the baked goods when necessary." He reached up on the counter, grabbing the recipe. "You really called my mom?"

She nodded, sighing. "I told her what I wanted to do, and she said that her son picked a real winner if she wanted to try to replicate a Fran Morgan original."

"She definitely doesn't make it easy." He tilted her chin up, giving her a kiss. "How about we send this to my Baby Girl, and see how she does?"

"Sounds like a plan, because three strikes and I'm out."

He rubbed her back. "I'll walk Clooney and you can throw away three pie pans, then go online shopping for a few more, and we can spend our night in with a Christmas movie."

She smiled slightly, nodding. "Sounds great… just don't tell your mother I ruined her recipe so bad that I went right past 'pecan pie' to 'burnt crap'?"

**He laughed, standing up and helping her up. "Consider it a secret."**


	8. Tinsel

Prompt: Tinsel  
Pairing: N/A

* * *

**VIII: Tinsel**

JJ had invited Emily over to help her and Henry decorate the apartment for Christmas, as Will had to work and she needed an extra set of hands. Emily accepted the invitation, on the condition that she could bring Sergio with her. She put Sergio into his carrier and drove to JJ's, a few bags of extra decorations in her trunk.

When there was a knock on the door, JJ turned to Henry. "Can you finish opening up these totes while I go get that?"

He nodded, pulling off the lid of one and setting it on the floor.

JJ smirked, standing up and walking to the front door, holding it open. "Thanks so much for your help, Em."

"It's no trouble, thanks for letting me bring the furry one," she said, motioning toward the carrier. "He's been really clingy lately and I didn't want to come home to scratched up furniture."

"Makes perfect sense to me. Will he be okay wandering around while we get this done?"

"So long as he gets a petting every once in a while? He's fine." She set the bags on the couch before putting his carrier on the floor, opening it up and letting him run around, taking in his surroundings.

The two of them had successfully set up JJ's fake tree, putting it into the stand and fixing the different branches, straightening them out. They set a bunch of ornaments down for Henry to put low on the tree, while they put the more delicate ornaments closer to the top. Emily boosted Henry up on her shoulders to put the star on top of the tree.

"Em, what's in the bags?" JJ asked, motioning toward them.

"Just a few things for basic decorating, like tinsel and lights. They're leftover from when I did my apartment." She set Henry on the ground, squatting in front of him. "Do you think you can find Sergio so I can give him something to keep him busy? He's probably hiding behind the couch."

Henry nodded, taking off, while JJ raised an eyebrow. "You want my four-year-old to go after your cat? That'll end well."

"He's docile, calm, and declawed, it'll be fine." She reached in one of the bags, opening up a pack of tinsel and making a ball out of it.

"I thought cats weren't supposed to have tinsel?"

She shrugged. "They're not, but Sergio's never had a problem. He doesn't eat it and mostly just plays with it." She held up the ball. "Besides, if you give him one of these, he's distracted for _hours_."

"We'll see how that theory works."

Henry walked in a few minutes later, holding Sergio and setting him on the ground in front of Emily.

"Thank you very much," she said, tossing the tinsel ball on the ground. Sure enough, it took mere seconds before he was batting it around, chasing it wherever it went. "And thanks to that dollar investment? He's going to stay quiet. Just watch out for the ball while walking around."

"Consider it noted." JJ unwrapped the rest of the tinsel and wound it around the railing of the staircase, twirling a different color around the posts.

Meanwhile, Emily hung a wreath on the front door, closing it and putting some bells on the doorknob. "If that gets annoying in the middle of the night when either of you get home from work, you can just bend the metal, reach inside, and take out what makes it ring."

"Something tells me that'll be happening in the near future," JJ said, looking through the boxes and handing a box to Henry. "Can you set that out on the table?"

"Uh huh!" He ran over to the table, and Emily watched as he put out a children's nativity set.

She smiled, shaking her head and looking through a few ornaments that were left in the box. "JJ, what about these?"

JJ leaned over. "Those are Will's to put up, I don't want to take the tradition from him - they were his parents'." She took one of them out. "This one, however? Is mine." She held it up and Emily noticed JJ's sister's name written on the side in faded glitter glue.

"She made that?"

She nodded, smiling slightly and hanging toward the top of the tree. Looking down at her feet, she noticed the tinsel ball and kicked it to the side. Sergio glanced up at her before pouncing on it again.

"I'm pretty sure he just gave you the stink-eye."

JJ shrugged. "No matter what, I'm still a cat person."

Once they were done decorating, they packed up the boxes for everything into the totes and closed them up, JJ putting them back in the garage while Emily and Henry sat in the living room, entertained by Sergio. JJ walked in, sitting down and turning to Emily.

"Thanks again for your help today." She saw Sergio bat the ball underneath the chair and kicked it out. "Everything looks great."

"I'm glad I could help." She balled up what was left of the tinsel, putting it into her bag. "Though I think you may be stuck with me for a while, because I won't be able to separate the two of them," she said, motioning toward Sergio.

**JJ chuckled. "In that case? I'll put on some cocoa."**


	9. Ice Skating

**Prompt:** Ice Skating  
**Pairing:** Some Derek/Spencer

* * *

**IX: Ice Skating**

One Saturday afternoon, JJ had planned to take Henry ice skating for the first time, and decided to see if anyone on the team wanted to join them. Hotch had told her that he'd be stopping by with Beth and Jack, both of Henry's godparents said yes, as well as Derek. Unfortunately, Rossi had one of his cigar aficionado meetings and Emily was visiting her mother, so the two of them couldn't make it. She dug out her ice skates from her closet, and grabbed the box of skates that she'd bought for Henry, before grabbing her keys and pressing the starter, warming the car up before they went outside. Turning around, she faced him.

"You ready to try ice skating for the first time, Henry?" she asked, putting on his sneakers and tying them.

He nodded. "Uncle Spence going?"

She tightened the laces. "Uncle Spence and Aunt Penny and Uncle Derek are all going to meet us there, and a little later, Uncle Hotch is going to be there with your cousin Jack. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Uh huh!" He shot up from the couch, pulling on his jacket and gloves.

She grabbed his hat, putting it on his head and smiling. "Then let's get going."

When they got to the ice rink, JJ was surprised to find everyone else had already gotten there. Hotch and Beth were skating a few feet back from Jack, Hotch keeping a close eye on him. Garcia was skating to catch up to Jack, going backwards and keeping a conversation going, most likely one about comic book characters. Off to the side, she saw Derek standing in the entryway, already on the ice, with a very cautious Spencer just outside. She walked over, sitting Henry down on a bench and putting the skates on him.

"Are you ready to show Uncle Spence how it's done so he'll stop being scared?"

"Yep!"

She tied her own skates and stood up, taking his hand and walking carefully toward the ice.

Henry pulled on Spencer's leg, and when Spencer looked down, he waved. "Hi, Uncle Spence!"

Spencer gave him a small smile. "Hi, Henry. Was this your Mommy's idea?"

He nodded, clinging JJ's hand and stepping on the ice. "It's gonna be fun!"

JJ smirked, stepping after him. "I'm pretty sure if he can handle it, you'll be fine," she said, patting him on the back.

"He's blaming his fear on 'Vegas'," Derek explained, leaning against the railing.

"Do you know how often emergency rooms are packed with ice-related injuries, JJ?" Spencer asked, eyeing the ice below his feet. "Not just from slick driving conditions, either. It's a lot of things, like slipping, falling, and somehow injuring yourself."

"What's wrong, doc, are you scared?" Derek asked, shuffling his feet.

Spencer glared at him. "I'm not the one that screamed at lightning the other night, _Derek_," he snapped, chewing on his cheek.

"Don't be scared," Henry told him, taking his hand and squeezing it. "It fun!" He looked up at JJ. "We go?"

"We can go." She patted Spencer's back one last time, before turning to Derek. "Lightning? Really?"

"I was caught off guard," he said, defending himself.

She giggled, shaking her head and walking on the ice, showing Henry the basics and surprised that he caught on so well.

Some time later, she glanced over and saw that Spencer had finally made it onto the ice, Derek holding his hands and skating backwards. She shook her head, letting go of Henry's hand for the first time and watching while he caught on to skating. He went past Hotch and right to Jack, joining in on the conversation with Garcia. JJ smiled, skating up to Hotch.

"You two enjoying yourselves?"

Hotch nodded. "Beth keeps showing off, because she used to skate in high school," he said, motioning toward her just past Garcia, doing some turns and jumps. "She's making me look bad."

"You're doing better than Spence," she said, pointing behind them, to where Spencer was holding onto the edge with one hand and Derek's arm with the other. "You're standing on your own two feet."

He chuckled. "I guess so. I'm sure Derek has made a comment or two."

"Definitely something that warranted a Spencer Reid silent treatment."

"Good luck to him."

She smiled, patting his arm and skating toward Garcia. "Having fun?"

"I can't remember the last time I went skating," Garcia said, "but I enjoyed skate shopping and customizing these bad boys."

JJ looked down and saw she had decorated her skates with paint and glitter. "Very nice."

"I thought so."

They finally made it back to Derek and Spencer, who hadn't made it very far from the entryway.

"Doing okay over here, junior g-man?" Garcia asked, coming to a stop beside him.

"I'd be fine if I had a teacher who didn't make a remark that he thinks is hilarious every two minutes," he said, glaring at Derek.

"What? I thought you'd like me commenting on your cute little frozen ass after you fell. Figured it would make you feel better."

He only narrowed his eyes more and Garcia shivered. "I swear, if it wasn't already freezing, I'd swear there was a cold front over here."

JJ shook her head. "You'll be paying for this one, I'm sure," she told Derek, before taking Henry's hand and skating away.

It had taken some time, but Spencer had finally gotten the hang of it and was skating alongside the rest of the team. They stayed there for a few hours, and afterward, all sat on the benches with some cocoa.

Hotch held up his own. "Great idea, JJ."

She smiled. "I think we all could've used a little something to cheer us up, I'm just glad I could help." She sipped it, rubbing Henry's back. "Besides, I think Henry had a great first time, didn't you?"

He nodded. "Better than Uncle Spence."

Everyone let out a laugh except Spencer, who shook his head. "Okay, so I'm not a genius at _everything. _Maybe next time."


	10. Frost

**Prompt:** Frost  
**Pairing:** Derek/Spencer

* * *

**X: Frost**

Derek was wide awake when it happened. Spener had fallen asleep early, leaving him sitting up in bed, his arms wrapped around the smaller man. First he heard it, then he saw it. There was a sound, something like a pop, before all of the lights in the house went out, including the TV he'd been watching. Usually when this happened, the power would come back on a few minutes later, he waited. Unfortunately, this wasn't going to be one of those times and several minutes had passed before he realized he was going to stay in the dark. Sighing, he patted Spencer's arm before trying to get up to start a fire.

The smaller man whimpered, clinging to him and shaking his head. "Not getting up," he mumbled, burying his head in Derek's chest.

"Sorry, Pretty Boy. The power's out and you're going to freeze if I don't get the fire going."

"Just wait a minute," Spencer reasoned, "it'll come back."

He shook his head. "It's been twenty, it's really out this time."

Spencer sighed, letting go of him and sitting up. "Fine."

Derek kissed his forehead before getting out of bed, pulling on his boots and tying them, grabbing his jacket and zipping it up. He took a deep breath before sighing, walking out to the backyard, opening the door to the shed, and taking out several logs for the fire.

Once he made it back inside, he found Spencer in front of the fireplace with all of the blankets and pillows from their bed, as well as a few from the hall closet. Right in the middle of the blankets was Clooney, curled up with his head in Spencer's lap. He sat down beside Spencer, putting a few logs inside and starting the fire.

"Comfortable?"

Spencer nodded slightly, reaching over on the couch and grabbing one of Derek's sweatshirts, pulling it on, pulling his arms inside. "Though obviously not as comfortable as Clooney."

Derek looked down at him and chuckled, seeing his dog fast asleep. "I guess not." He took off his jacket, tossing it on the couch and grabbing a blanket, pulling it around his body.

"We're not going to get enough sleep for work tomorrow."

Derek shook his head. "You have more than enough vacation days stockpiled that we can take _one_ if our power isn't back in the morning."

Spencer opened his mouth to object, but quickly shut it. "Fine, but you can't give me any of your case files that you get over the next day."

He shrugged. "I'm perfectly fine with that."

The two of them sat there watching the fire for a while before Clooney moved out of Spencer's lap. Spencer took the opportunity to move closer to Derek, snuggling against him until Derek took the hint, wrapping his arm and the blanket around him.

"Jack Frost is a bastard," Spencer mumbled, resting his head on Derek's shoulder.

Derek bit his lip to hold back his laughter. "Excuse me?"

He glanced up at Derek. "You heard me. I could be cuddling in our bed right now, extremely warm and comfortable. Instead we're huddled for warmth like a couple of Neanderthals."

"And where did you learn such foul language?"

Spencer gave him a look. "Excuse me? With how often you say 'bitch', it's a wonder that every other word in my vocabulary isn't profanity."

Derek chuckled, kissing the top of his head and rubbing his arm. "I'm sorry I'm such a horrible influence on you."

"You should be."

The two of them eventually dozed off on the floor in front of the fireplace, Derek waking up every half hour to check on the fire, and if necessary, add another log. When the morning came and the power still wasn't on, the two of them both called out of work. Instead, they opted to spend the day sitting around the house together, talking and waiting for the power to come back on.

When they finally got the power back in the middle of the day, Derek turned to Spencer. "Is Jack Frost still a bastard?" he asked, a huge grin on his face.

Spencer smirked. "Though I did enjoy romantically cuddling in front of the fire? I'd rather it not be because I'm trying to get some heat, so yes, especially because he robbed me of my morning cup of coffee."

"...I ran out first thing this morning to make sure I had coffee for you," Derek argued.

Spencer shook his head. "It wasn't from my coffeemaker, therefore it's not my morning coffee, and it doesn't count."

Derek laughed, shaking his head. "Come on, while the heat's kicking in, I'll make you some coffee, then we'll see if anyone's still a bastard."

**Spencer rolled his eyes before giving Derek a smile, getting up from the blankets and following him to the kitchen.**


	11. Egg Nog

Prompt: Egg nog  
Pairing: N/A

* * *

**XI: Egg Nog**

Garcia walked up to JJ's desk, leaning against it. "Please oh _please_ tell me you have a sitter for tonight? It's ladies night at my apartment and I stayed up last night making sure everything was perfect."

"Will moved his shifts around, he's not working again until Sunday, so he can watch Henry tonight, and overnight if it turns into one of _those_ ladies nights."

"One of those?" Spencer asked. "Oh, you mean the kind where you tell your poor sitter 'a couple of hours', but then he's up until four o'clock in the morning when you stumble in a wonderful combination of drunk and hungover?"

JJ sighed. "I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"

He shook his head. "Don't count on it."

She turned to Garcia. "I'm going to head home, kiss Henry good night, and then I'll be at your place. Sound good?"

"Fantastic!" She turned to Emily. "What about you? Are we still on?"

"Stopping by my place, making sure Sergio's fed and watered, and I'll be there right after."

"Perfect. I hope you two are ready to get your holiday on." She gave both of them a smile before turning around, walking back to her lair.

JJ pointed after her. "...Get our holiday on?"

Emily shrugged. "With Garcia, I've learned not to ask."

Emily and JJ met up outside of Garcia's apartment building, go-bags over their shoulders.

"So, are you ready to get your holiday on?" Emily asked.

JJ laughed to herself. "It should definitely be interesting."

They took the stairs up and instantly, Garcia's door stuck out. There was a wreath on the front and several sparkly decorations hanging from it. Emily shook her head, reaching out and knocking.

Garcia answered the door, wearing a bright Christmas sweater and her hair done up with red and green ribbons. "Welcome, my little elves." She held the door open, stepping back.

They stepped inside and JJ looked around, eyebrows raised. "You really go all-out for the holidays, don't you?"

She shrugged. "It's a little bit of a present for myself, to separate the job and my personal life. I can come home, see this, and forget all of the stuff I see on my monitors." She closed the door, locking it and taking their go-bags, walking to her room. "Sit, make yourselves comfortable, I'll grab the cocktails."

"...Cocktails? As in plural?"

"As in there's a reason you brought your go-bags," she called from her room, walking to the kitchen.

Garcia walked out a few minutes later, setting down a few drink containers and several glasses.

"What are we having?" Emily asked, sitting up.

"The Poinsettia, which is champagne, cranberry juice, and Cointreau - it's basically deliciousness in a glass. Next we Santa shots, with peppermint schnapps, grenadine, and creme de menthe, and of course a holiday classic."

"Which is?"

"Adult egg nog," she said, picking up the container and pouring herself a glass, taking a sip. "I even made it myself. None of that store-bought crap makes its' way into my house."

JJ poured herself some. "What makes it 'adult'?"

"Bourbon." She saw JJ looking cautious and shook her head. "Just try it, you baby."

JJ rolled her eyes, taking a sip and raising her eyebrows, impressed.

"I'm hurt that you doubted me." She handed a glass to Emily and took a seat between the two of them. Emily sipped it and when she saw her smirk, smiled, turning on the TV. "Alcohol, no work, no commitments, and Christmas specials. Perfect ladies night, no?"

JJ poured another glass before leaning back, taking a sip. "Definitely."

A while later, they'd changed into their pajamas and the three of them were sitting on an air mattress on the living room floor.

"So, holiday ladies' night for a tradition?" Garcia asked, finishing her drink.

JJ nodded. "Definitely. You, Emily?"

Emily looked up from pouring her drink. "That depends, is there going to be this egg nog every year?" Garcia nodded and Emily finished pouring, setting the container on the table. "Then I'm in."

Garcia clapped her hands together. "Perfect. I even have you guys to enjoy my favorite Christmas movies with."

JJ held up a hand. "Next year? We add Love Actually."

Emily raised her hand. "Seconded!"

"It's settled," Garcia said, hitting her fist against the table. "Next year, we kick it off with Love Actually."

The next morning, JJ's phone started ringing at too early o'clock. She whimpered, reaching over blindly and digging through her go-bag. When she finally gripped it, she shut off the ringer, answering it. "Hello?" she mumbled against the pillow.

"Shh," Emily said, covering her ears with her pillow and groaning.

"...Long night?" Will asked.

She blinked a few times, pressing her hand into her forehead and wincing at the sunlight, whimpering. "I hate egg nog."


	12. Cider

**Prompt:** Cider  
**Pairing:** Derek/Spencer

* * *

**XIII: Cider **

Derek had been in the break room, talking about how one part of Christmas he missed was his Mom's homemade hot spiced cider. Rossi had overheard him and offered to give him his recipe, to see if it compared. Thankful, he took it, and told himself he'd try it first thing on Saturday morning, while Spencer was still asleep. Reading through it, he made a list of ingredients he'd need to pick up, and since Spencer had wanted to sleep in that morning, he would be staying late at work, giving Derek time to do the shopping.

The next morning, he woke up his usual early time and went to the basement to get his workout in. When he was done, he cleaned out the coffeemaker completely, eliminating any trace of grounds or coffee in general. Putting in a filter, he filled it with brown sugar, allspice, cloves, a cinnamon stick, salt, nutmeg, and orange wedges. He then went in the fridge, grabbing his new half gallon of apple cider and opening it, before pouring it into the coffeemaker and turning it on. Rossi's recipe had called for a saucepan, but he'd read online that this could make the process easier. Closing the lid, he carefully tiptoed into their bedroom, grabbing a change of clothes and taking a quick shower.

After his shower, Derek grabbed one of his mugs from the cabinet, pouring himself some of the cider and taking a sip. He hummed to himself, satisfied, and knew he'd have to thank Rossi for the recipe: it wasn't quite his mother's, but it was pretty damn good. Walking out to the living room, he turned on the TV and lowered the volume, watching Sportscenter for any highlights he missed the night before when he'd fallen asleep shortly after getting home after an exhausting week. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, pulling it over himself and leaning back on the couch, relaxing.

It wasn't until an hour later and Derek's third glass of cider that Spencer had finally woken up. Derek heard the bedroom door open and turned around to see him trudging out, running a hand through his hair and squinting. He knew better than to talk to him before his morning coffee, so he kept his mouth shut, sipping his drink. It was then he realized that he never cleaned out the coffeemaker and it was still filled with cider.

"_Shit_," he said to himself, eyes wide.

"Something smells good," Spencer mumbled, scratching his head, "is it breakfast?"

"...Not exactly." He set his mug down, pushing himself off of the couch and hoping to beat Spencer to the coffeemaker.

Unfortunately, he was already there and reached for the pot, pouring himself a cup and setting it back in the coffeemaker. He tried to stop Spencer, but he knew coming between Spencer and a mug of anything was deadly. Instead, he braced himself for the yelling that was sure to follow, leaning against the counter and wincing. Spencer took a sip, clicking his tongue, before looking back at the mug. "...What is this?"

Derek cleared his throat. "Hot spiced cider, why, do you like it?"

"Why is it _not _my morning coffee? More importantly, _why_ is it where my morning coffee _should_ be?" he asked, setting the mug on the counter.

"So is that a no?"

"That's an 'answer my question, Derek Morgan'," he said, crossing his arms.

He sighed. "I missed my mom's spiced cider, so I got this recipe from Rossi-"

"So this is David Rossi's fault?"

"Not exactly?" He winced. "I may have done some research and read that a coffeemaker is a quick way to make it, so I cleaned it out completely and used it to make the cider, and I sort of… forgot to re-clean it and make your morning coffee?"

Spencer rubbed the corner of his eye. "Derek, how long have we been together?"

"About four years… exactly four years next month."

Spencer nodded slightly. "And in those four years, what has been my routine?"

"Wake up, come out to the kitchen, have your morning coffee, add your pound of sugar, and then curl up on the couch with your coffee and a crossword puzzle."

He crossed his arms, leaning against the counter. "I get it, you miss home, but this is my _coffee_, Derek. You didn't think to buy _another_ coffeemaker, just so you can make yourself this hot cider stuff in the morning, I can have my coffee, and everybody's happy?"

"We all can't be geniuses like you," Derek said, smiling slightly, but realizing the glare Spencer was giving him, shook his head. "I guess I'll be making a coffee run?"

"Yes you will."

"...And picking you up a new coffeemaker, since apparently that's going to be my designated 'Derek fucked up' coffeemaker?" he asked, reaching for his car keys.

**Spencer patted his arm. "See, you can be a genius too."**


	13. Peppermint

**Prompt:** Peppermint  
**Pairing:** Emily/Spencer

* * *

**XIII: Peppermint**

The coffee machine at the BAU being on the fritz was not the way anybody wanted to start their morning, but unfortunately, it couldn't be stopped. Before there was a panic, mainly from Spencer, Emily opted to make a coffee run. She grabbed several coffees and stuffed a bunch of sugar packets into her pocket, knowing that a certain someone on the team liked it sweet. Looking at the bakery items, she saw that they'd finally stocked up on peppermint bark and ordered a few pieces.

Walking back into work, she walked to everyone's desks, setting down the cups. Finally she made it back to the bullpen, right when Spencer had discovered that there was no fresh coffee in the break room. He groaned, turning around and walking back to his desk, sinking into his chair and groaning.

"Why the long face?" Emily asked.

He sighed, motioning toward the break room. "Someone broke the coffeemaker and we're not getting a replacement until tomorrow. Obviously someone doesn't know functioning in this place without coffee isn't something some of us do well."

"Fret not, Doctor," she said, taking his coffee out of the tray and reaching over the divider, setting it down. "Emily Prentiss to the rescue."

He smiled slightly. "Is there a reason that my coffee is significantly larger than yours?" he asked, picking it up and comparing the sizes with an eyebrow raised.

"Because the rest of us can function just fine with a little coffee, while you require a good gallon of it."

"A little bit of an exaggeration, but thank you, nonetheless."

He got up to grab the sugar but she shook her head. "Not so fast."

"Excuse me?"

She reached in her pocket, taking out the sugar packets and dropping them onto his desk. "I _think_ that may be enough for your sweet tooth, though with you, I can never tell."

He mock laughed, opening the lid to his coffee and ripping open a few packets, pouring them into his drink and stirring. He inspected it before putting the lid back on, taking an experimental sip.

"Well, do you believe I didn't poison you?" she asked, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms.

He motioned toward it. "There's something different."

"Is it a good different or bad different?"

He took another sip, raising his eyebrows and smiling. "Good different - _very_ good different… did you put peppermint in this?"

"You caught me," she said, shrugging.

"Did everyone get this, or am I just special?"

She smirked, reaching in her bag and taking out the container of peppermint bark, tossing it onto his desk. "You're special," she whispered, winking.

He blushed, taking another sip of his drink. The two of them had been together for nine months, and they were surprised they were still able to keep it a secret, considering they _did_ work with profilers. Luckily, they had a habit of getting to work earlier than the rest of the team, so they could have small little moments like this without raising suspicion.

Throughout the day, Spencer popped open the tin, taking out pieces of peppermint bark and snacking on them. JJ looked over at him, curious.

"Sweet tooth, Spence?"

"With how much sugar he puts in his coffee on a daily basis, _now_ you're asking him this?" Emily asked, still looking at her case file.

He smiled, nodding toward JJ, before finishing the piece and going back to work.

Later in the day, Emily got up from her desk, reaching over the divider and grabbing the tin, opening it and taking out a piece.

"...What are you doing?" Spencer asked her.

"Everyone else went to lunch and I can't concentrate because I'm _starving_," she told him, putting the lid back on. "It's been taunting me since I gave it to you this morning."

He laughed to himself. "In that case, take what you'd like."

She walked around, leaning against his desk. "So, I was thinking for Christmas, if we're home that is, you could come over to my place and I could cook?" She took a bite before reaching over, running a hand through his hair. "We could enjoy some cocoa, watch some movies, and you, of course, can watch the new Doctor Who Christmas special. What do you say?"

"You had me at 'Doctor Who'," he joked, giving her a smile. "I'll be there."

She finished the peppermint bark, winking at him. "Perfect." Getting up, she walked back to her desk, sitting down.

A short while later, her phone rang. Considering the bullpen was nearly empty, she put it on speaker phone.

"Emily Prentiss."

"And _when_ were you going to tell me that you had yourself a genius?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Garcia?"

"Don't stray from the question! How? When? How long?"

"How did you-" she groaned, turning around to face the video camera focused on their area of the bullpen. "Hi, Garcia."

"Hello to you too. Now, answer."

She eyed Spencer, whose eyes were wide, sighing. "What gave it away?"

"If it wasn't the flirting over coffee this morning, it'd be the peppermint bark snagging and Christmas planning," she explained.

"...You have mics in here too?"

"Again, straying!"

Groaning, she leaned back in her seat. "If I tell you, and it's a pretty big 'if', it stays a secret, deal?"

"Sworn to secrecy."

She swallowed, chewing on her cheek. "It was nine months last week."

Garcia squealed excitedly. "So, _so_ happy for you two! You, enjoy your genius, and Boy Wonder, you enjoy your little peppermint sweetheart."

Emily blushed. "Goodbye, Garcia." She reached over, ending the call and resting her head in her hands.

"...So, is peppermint sweetheart a new nickname?" Spencer asked, trying to lighten the mood.

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "Definitely not."


	14. Gingerbread

**Prompt:** Gingerbread  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**XIV: Gingerbread**

Spencer walked into the bullpen, setting his satchel underneath his desk and his cup of coffee on top. It wasn't often that he was running late to work, so he tried to immediately keep himself busy. It took him a few minutes to realize that the rest of his team wasn't in the bullpen. Looking up, he saw that the BAU room was empty, as were Hotch and Rossi's offices. It wasn't until he heard laughter from the break room and turned around that he found out where everyone had been. Taking the final sip of his coffee, he threw the cup away, getting up and walking to the break room to see what the fuss was about.

He found the team gathered around one of the tables, looking at something. Curious, he moved to the one empty space, wondering what had them so amused. Sitting on the table was a small gingerbread house, with 'BAU' written on the front in icing. Standing up around the house were seven little gingerbread men, though some would be called gingerbread women. It seemed as if someone, no, definitely Garcia, had put a lot of detail into it. He looked around at them until he found the one he knew was his own. It was taller than the rest of them and he let out a little laugh. It had his brown hair, his glasses, a sweater vest, his scarf, pants, two odd-colored socks, and his sneakers.

"When did you have time to do this?"

She looked up at him, smiling. "Nice to see you've made it in, Boy Wonder. I thought after that last case in Florida, everyone could use a little something to cheer them up, so I decided that a little fun with gingerbread was in order."

Rossi picked up his own, turning it toward Garcia. "Was the facial hair necessary?" he asked, pointing to the grey icing on the face.

"Oh, definitely. Yours was looking far too much like Hotch's and you needed your distinguishing feature. It's not like I can _make_ a designer, Italian suit out of icing and gumdrops," she argued.

He laughed softly. "I guess not."

"I'm guessing that's the same reason my 'blonde' hair is lighter than hers," JJ said, grabbing hers. "And there's even a little Henry holding my hand? Good touch."

"And he's dressed as his favorite profiler. I know how hard it was to get him out of that costume."

"Next to impossible."

Derek looked at them and pointed. "And I'm sure there's a reason _we're_ holding hands."

She scoffed. "Why, are you insulted? A woman like me needs her big, strong Adonis to protect her, even in gingerbread form."

"And tell me, why am I just wearing pants and shoes while everyone else is fully clothed?"

"...Because, even in gingerbread form, your Baby Girl needs something to entertain herself."

He laughed to himself, rubbing her arm. "And your little gingerbread self is just as bright and cheerful as you, I see."

"Indeed." Everyone looked over at it and saw what Derek was talking about. The gingerbread version of her was wearing her blue glasses, a purple dress, heels, and jewelry made out of several pieces of candy.

Emily, who had been inspecting her gingerbread likeness, smirked. "How long did this take you?"

"A few hours. I made everything from scratch and, obviously, individually worked on them, making sure they were all perfect little copies of everyone."

Derek leaned over, kissing the top of her head. "Thank you, sweetness, they look good enough to eat."

"Oh no you don't," she said, swatting at his chest.

"Excuse me?"

"I worked far too long and hard on these to not let them be appreciated for at least a day." She reached for a container, opening it. "You can enjoy gingerbread cookies until I decide it's a suitable time for my artwork to no longer be appreciated."

Everyone set down the smaller, edible versions of themselves and reached over, taking a cookie and eating it, thanking her.

She set everything back in its perfect place and raised an eyebrow, eyeing Hotch. "Why do you no longer have a head?" she asked, pointing to it.

He swallowed. "Should've put out the warning sooner."

**She rolled her eyes before giggling. "Apparently, our little gingerbread team is led by the headless Hotch."**


	15. Presents

**Prompt:** Presents  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**XV: Presents **

Everyone sat in the BAU room, confused as to why a meeting was called. A case hadn't gone to Hotch, so they thought maybe something had come to Garcia instead. Garcia finally walked in with a Santa hat in her hand, shaking it.

"Good to know you all respond to 'Avengers Assemble' text messages," she said, setting the hat in the middle of the table.

"Garcia, why did you call this meeting? Did a case come up?" Hotch asked.

She shook her head. "No, bossman, sorry for setting off any alarms in anyone's head, or thinking that any of your weekend plans have been ruined, but I feel that we need to start ourselves a little Secret Santa."

Spencer looked around, confused. "What's a Secret Santa?"

"...Seriously, Spence? You've never done one, not even in college?"

"Considering I was younger than the rest of my classmates, they weren't exactly inviting me to all of the hottest parties and including me in everything," he said, leaning back in his seat.

"The rules are simple," Garcia said, grabbing the hat and shaking it again. "Everyone's name is written down on a scrap of paper in this hat. Everybody takes a name, and you don't share who you have with anybody. You can't pick yourself, and if anyone picks their own name, we all need to pick again. Once you have your name, you have until our last day before Christmas break to pick up a gift for that person. We'll all gather somewhere, let's say Rossi mansion," she said, looking over at Rossi and waiting for his nod of approval, "you set your gift under the tree and then we all individually open them. A little bit of a twist so it's fair for everyone? $50 limit and _no_ gift cards, gift certificates, or things of the like. Everyone understand?" When everyone nodded, she shook the hat and held it out. "Boy Wonder, you get first pick."

Spencer reached in the hat, grabbing a scrap of paper and unfolding it, reading the name and tucking it into his pocket.

"And you didn't get yourself?"

He shook his head. "I didn't."

"Perfect!"

Garcia went around, giving everyone a chance to pick out the names. Once the hat had all but one name taken, she took the last one out, reading it and smiling. "Good luck, everyone."

"Are trades allowed?" Emily asked, looking up at Garcia.

"Sorry, but the name you picked is yours and only yours. If I find out about any trades-"

Emily held up her hands. "I'll keep it. I'm sorry I asked."

"You got Rossi, didn't you?" Derek asked as they were walking out of the office and back to the bullpen.

She raised her eyebrows, exhaling, before sinking into her seat.

"Good luck."

When the day finally came, everyone gathered at Rossi's mansion. With the help of Garcia, Rossi did the cooking, while the rest of the team brought snacks and desserts to enjoy later. Once they were done eating, they all gathered in the living room. Rossi threw a few logs on the fire and sat down in his recliner, looking at Garcia. "The floor is yours."

She smiled, picking up a hat and holding it out. "Now, we pick our present order."

"Can't we just all do it at the same time?" JJ saw the look on Garcia's face and put up her hands. "Nevermind."

Everyone took turns taking out a number and Garcia looked around. "Who has number one?"

Rossi held up his slip of paper. "That would be me."

Emily winced, watching him pick up the carefully wrapped present and taking his seat again.

"Seems a bit heavy," he analyzed, lifting it in his hands.

Garcia pointed a finger at him. "No profiling presents, another rule that I'm setting right now."

He put up his hands, apologizing, before ripping off the wrapping paper and opening the box. He pulled out two tickets, inspecting them. "Renaissance Art exhibit?" He put everything back in the box. "This has to be the work of one of the three stooges," he said, motioning toward Derek, Emily, and Spencer, "considering these three tried to profile my Renaissance artwork after I started at the BAU. If I _had_ to guess anybody, it's Emily."

She shrugged. "You got me. You, David Rossi, are an impossible person to buy for, considering you're the man who has or can have anything. If that art exhibit hadn't popped up, I would've been screwed."

"Well thank you, I appreciate it. One condition?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

He held up both tickets. "You have to come with me."

She laughed softly, nodding. "It's a deal."

Garcia looked around. "Number two?"

Spencer held up his paper. "That would be me." He threw the paper in the fireplace before inspecting the gifts, looking for the one with his own name on it. Grabbing it, he took his seat in front of the fireplace, setting the gift in his lap. "Do we have to play the guessing game?"

"It makes it more fun," Emily offered.

He nodded, opening the bag and pulling out the tissue paper. Inside, he found stationery and pens, along with a Doctor Who travel mug for his coffee. He smiled, turning it around at looking at the details. "Wow."

"Any guesses?" Garcia asked.

He clicked his tongue. "The Doctor Who mug makes me think of you, but our Whovian-ism has become well known since we started discussing new episodes in the break room." He chewed on his cheek. "Everyone also knows that I write to my mother every single day, hence the stationery supplies, but if I had to guess? Hotch."

Hotch nodded, smiling. "I'm surprised you figured it out. I actually had to call Garcia while I was shopping to be sure I got the right kind of mug for you."

"It's perfect, thank you."

Hotch held up his slip with the '3' before grabbing his present from under the tree, sitting down. Quickly opening it, he took out two tickets to an art museum in New York - specifically, the museum Beth had started working at not too long ago.

"This could be from anybody, but whoever you are, you do realize that I could get these tickets for free?"

Derek smiled. "But what that includes? One of my vacation days, so you and Jack can take a day trip up to New York, or make a long weekend of it, so the two of you can see Beth. I'm cutting my AL a day short, because you need some time with the little guy."

Hotch held up the tickets in a silent thank you, closing the box back up.

Garcia shot up, needing no time to dig around for her present: it was the brightly colored one among a few red and green ones. She sat down, shaking it.

Derek pointed a finger at her. "What did you say about profiling?"

She shrugged. "_Technically_, I'm not a profiler, so _technically,_ I'm not profiling."

"Did she just find a loophole in her own rules?" JJ asked, leaning back in her seat.

"That I did." She tore the wrapping paper off and squealed. "I love it."

Emily leaned over. "What is it?"

She turned it around, smiling. "May I introduce to you all, Ms. Marvel, easily the greatest female superhero in all of Marvel Comics. And Derek Morgan, don't you dare start arguing for The Black Widow, because we all know you have a thing for Scarlet Johansson."

"What's the other one?" JJ asked, pointing to it.

"The same exact one, so I have one to collect and one to join the action figure family on my desk. Thank you, Rossi."

"What gave it away?"

She held up the receipt. "You forgot to take this out."

He shook his head, reaching over and grabbing it, throwing it into the fire. "At least I stayed on budget."

JJ looked around, grabbing her present and opening it. "Wouldn't it make more sense for the last of us to open our presents at the same time, that way we can still play the guessing game?"

Garcia shrugged. "If you insist."

Emily grabbed her own, then handed Derek's to him.

"On the count of 3," Garcia said, counting off on her fingers. "1, 2, 3."

The team watched as they opened their presents together. Derek was the first to speak up, smiling. "Thank you, JJ."

"What makes you think it's from me?"

"You're the one I talked to a few weeks back about my favorite Christmas specials, and how I didn't have them because they stayed at my mom's when I moved out… you were baiting me, weren't you?"

"Guilty." She pointed to the last DVD. "But that, you didn't tell me about."

He raised an eyebrow, inspecting it. "There's no name on it." He opened it, reading the disc. "'Morgan Family Christmas 1980'." He laughed to himself. "You called my mom?"

"Indeed, and she said that's the Christmas that was most memorable for you."

"Did you watch it?"

She laughed softly, nodding. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist a seven-year-old Derek Morgan parading around his house dressed like a teenage mutant ninja turtle."

Garcia gasped, looking over at him. "Can we watch it?"

"Not happening."

JJ looked down at her own present, eyeing Garcia. "Thank you." She turned it around to show everyone, revealing a scrapbook of Henry. "I know nobody else would be capable of this much detail, and I really, really appreciate it." She leaned over, pulling Garcia into a hug. "Thank you, godmommy."

"Believe me, the pleasure was all mine. And now, you have no reason to freak out when you can't find any pictures of my adorable godson sitting around, because I used them all in there."

"..._All_ of them?"

"Every last one. And technically, since I used supplies that I already had sitting around the apartment? I didn't break the $50 budget."

JJ smiled, wiping her eyes and looking through the scrapbook.

Emily looked down at her own present, picking it up out of the paper and smiling. "Thank you, Reid, I really appreciate it."

Garcia peeked over, raising an eyebrow. "What's with all the Russian?"

She gave Spencer a smile. "Um, Spencer actually asked me to see this movie with him before everything with Ian Doyle happened, and I turned him down, but told him I'd have to reschedule. Unfortunately, it was out of theaters when I came back, so I guess this is his way of saying I owe him a movie night?"

"Keep looking," he told her.

She took out a few bags of popcorn and boxes of candy, smirking. "Very safe to say I owe you a movie night. Just tell me when."

He gave her a thumbs up. "It's a date."

Derek looked at him, eyebrow raised. "_Oh_? Something you want to share with us?"

Spencer rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat.

Garcia held up her glass. "To our first, and hopefully not last, Secret Santa being a success."

Everyone clinked their glasses together and sipped, glad that the first one had gone so well. After Derek suggested it, they all stayed most of the night, watching Christmas movies on Rossi's big screen.


	16. Fireplace

**Prompt:** Fireplace  
**Pairing:** Derek/Emily

* * *

**XVI: Fireplace **

Emily woke up shivering. What alarmed her most was that there was no reason for it, considering she closed the windows as soon as it started getting cold and the only way out for Sergio was if she opened the door to the hallway. In the colder months, she cranked up the heat and rarely ever dealt with the cold. She whimpered, burying her head in the pillow and wrapping the blankets tighter around herself, not caring that she was stealing them from her boyfriend.

Derek raised an eyebrow, turning to face her. "Do you mind?"

"I'm cold," she mumbled, pulling the last of the blankets off of him.

"...You're cold so I need to freeze?"

"You have muscle and therefore, you're fine. Look at me, I'm tiny and I need as much warmth as I can get."

He sighed, rolling over and wrapping his arms around her, kissing the back of her head. "How about I check on the heat situation and go start a fire, hopefully get some of the freeze out?"

"You do whatever you want, I'm not leaving these blankets."

She watched as Derek pulled on his robe and tied it, then listened as he trudged out of the bedroom. He checked the heater and sighed.

"Heat's out," he called back.

She groaned. "That's the second time this month."

"I'll yell at your landlord when it's a normal hour. Where do you keep your firewood?"

"The box next to the fireplace, and I have extra blankets in the hall closet. My lighter's in the cabinet where I keep my candles."

"And your air mattress?"

She looked into the living room, confused. "Bottom shelf in the hall closet, why?" When she didn't get a response she sighed, keeping the blankets wrapped around her body and walking out to the living room. She found Derek inflating the air mattress and several blankets piled up beside it. "What are you doing?"

"Well, considering I was sharing a bed with a blanket hog and it's freezing? I'm making us a bed out here so we can both be warm and get the heat from the fire."

"And we call Reid the resident genius," she said with a smile, turning off the pump and putting blankets on the air mattress. She walked back to the bedroom, grabbing their pillows, before going back to the living room and throwing them onto the air mattress.

"Sometimes I'm good," he admitted, putting another log on the fire and sitting laying back on the mattress. "Going to share some of those?" he asked, pointing to the blankets around her.

"I suppose." She gave him a smile and laid down next to him, adjusting the blankets over the two of them.

He fixed the blankets over them, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. "Does this happen often?"

She sighed. "This is the second time in a month it's happened. Usually I just wrap up in some blankets and it's fixed by the morning."

"Well if it isn't? Your big, strong boyfriend will go have a word with your landlord about this."

She laughed softly. "What, I can't defend myself? In case you forgot, I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand and talking someone down."

"You're welcome."

She swatted at his chest, smirking, resting her head on his shoulder and watching the fireplace. "There is a bright side to this."

He looked down at her. "You don't say?"

"Mhm." She moved closer, kissing his cheek and wrapping her arms around his middle. "Cuddling, it's for our own comfort and warmth, and for fun."

He chuckled, rubbing her arm. "It works for me."

The next morning, Emily woke up sweating. She groaned, kicking the blankets off of her and sighing. "Damn."

"Good morning to you, too," Derek whispered, "just what every man wants to hear first thing in the morning from his woman."

She mock laughed, sitting up and pushing the last of the blankets off of them. "I guess the heat came back on in the middle of the night."

"What gave it away?"

She shook her head, standing up. "Sometimes, you're a real smartass."

"Should be one of the things you love about me," he teased, getting up and folding the blankets.

She eyed the clock and sighed. "We overslept. It should be interesting walking into the bullpen an hour late, let alone doing it _together_."

He smirked. "It _could_ be longer than an hour," he said, wagging his eyebrows.

She picked up one of the pillows, hitting him with it. "Clean out the fireplace and maybe you _could_

live to see tomorrow." She walked to the bedroom, looking through her closet for clothes.

Shortly before she closed the bathroom door, he laughed. "I love you too!"


	17. StockingsSocks

Prompt: Stockings/Socks  
Pairing: Slight Derek/Spencer

* * *

**XVII: Stockings/Socks **

Once everyone found out about Spencer's odd sock habit, it became a tradition on the team that when somebody on the team came across a pair of Christmas socks, they'd buy them for Spencer to add to his collection. Garcia had started it during Spencer's second year, setting a pair of candy cane striped knee-high socks on his desk while he was getting his morning coffee. Shortly after, the rest of the team picked up on it, and even Rossi had joined in on the game, dropping off a green socks with bells and smirking. "At least now when you're going to give us a rant, we'll hear you coming," he told Spencer, patting his shoulder before walking to his office.

Derek held back a laugh and Spencer glared at him, immediately silencing him.

"How many of those do you have by now anyway?" Emily asked, setting down her pen.

He shrugged. "At least five pairs a year for the past six years."

"Thirty? You have over _thirty_ pairs of Christmas socks?"

"...Considering five times six is thirty, yes."

"So, basically, you can wear a different set of socks every day and never repeat the same set?"

He thought about it before nodding. "More likely than not, yes."

"Want to make it interesting?"

"What are you talking about?"

Derek leaned between their desks. "I think she's proposing a bet."

Spencer cleared his throat. "What are the conditions?"

"I don't know… loser has to join Garcia when she goes caroling."

He chewed on his cheek before nodding. "Works for me."

She held out her hand. "You, Spencer Reid, can not repeat a set until Christmas."

He took her hand, shaking it.

"This should be interesting, considering it already takes you ten minutes to pick out socks in the morning."

Spencer closed his folder, hitting Derek in the arm with it. "Don't you have an office to not bother me from?"

Derek put up his hands, stepping away. "You three have fun in here." He turned to JJ. "Think he has it in him?"

"Oh, definitely."

The first couple of weeks, Spencer successfully completed the task, putting on odd Christmas socks. Every morning, he would have to show Emily which ones he was wearing and she would write it down, documenting it to keep track of them. They even kept it up while they were on a case, her checking his socks before they went to the police station. In the mornings before work, Derek would watch him sift through his sock drawer for the perfect match. He found it entertaining, sitting on the bed and peeking his head around to see Spencer digging around and trying to make odd matches.

It was the last day of the bet and Spencer sat on his side of the bed, looking in his drawer and humming to himself.

"Problem, Pretty Boy?" Derek asked, leaning against the doorframe and smirking.

"One day. I have _one _day left in this bet."

"What's the problem with that?"

Spencer turned around to face him. "I had four pairs of Christmas socks left. I wore one from two of them yesterday, and if I do the same today, I'll have successfully completed the bet."

"...I fail to see how that's a bad thing?"

Spencer exhaled, holding up the socks from Rossi. "_This_ is one of the two remaining pairs."

Derek bit his lip to hold back a laugh. "So, to win the bet, you have to be an elf."

Spencer grabbed his pillow, throwing it at him. "This isn't funny! If I wear them, I'll be jingling in the bullpen every single time I get up. If I don't wear them, Emily knows, I repeat a sock, and I lose the bet."

"Would going caroling with Garcia really be that bad?"

Spencer gave him a look, counting off the reasons. "My bad knee, I'm in pain after two houses. I can't sing, I don't _like_ to sing, and it's just awkward to knock on somebody's door and sing to them until they get sick of you and close the door in your face."

Derek smirked. "Then let's go, Jingle Bells, we're going to be late."

He groaned, pulling on one of the socks and another with Christmas trees on it. He tucked the bells into the top of the sock, hoping it would silence it, but it only seemed to dull the ringing. Sighing to himself, he picked up his jacket and pulled it on, checking the contents of his back before putting it over his shoulder and walking out to the living room. "Just remember, Derek. _You_ go home with 'that guy in the bullpen who's jingling', so if I were you, I'd keep the comments to a minimum."

"Consider the warning received." He reached over on the table, grabbing his car keys, following Spencer out the door.

When they made it into work, Spencer stepped softly with his left foot, not wanting anybody to know about his choice for today. He settled in at his desk, forcing Derek to get him a coffee so he wouldn't need to get up. Emily walked in a short while later, setting her things down on her desk and taking out her notebook.

"What do we have today, Doctor Reid?" she asked, clicking her pen.

He groaned. "Come on, Emily, can't you just trust that I did it? When have I ever lied to you?"

JJ held up her hand. "To Morgan when you said you knew nothing about basketball-"

"I meant about anything important."

Emily laughed softly. "Let's see it, Reid."

He sighed, rolling up his right pant leg to reveal the blue sock covered in Christmas trees.

She peeked over then scanned her list. "Haven't seen that one before. Now the left."

He pushed his pant leg down before lifting the other one slightly, revealing the red of the sock.

"Just red? That's very un-Spencer of you," JJ commented.

Groaning, he thought about Derek's famous saying that payback is a bitch. Rolling up his leg all the way, he showed it to her. "I haven't worn it yet."

Emily smirked. "That you haven't. Are those the ones from Rossi?"

"Unfortunately, yes, it's the last pair I have. That's 30 consecutive days with different socks, I win the bet."

"You do, but you're also jingling."

He looked at her. "So, the bet is won?"

She nodded, putting up her hands. "I'm an honest person. The bet is won, you win, Doctor Reid. You have entirely too many odd socks and it worked in your favor."

"All I needed to hear is that I won." He reached down, untying his shoe and taking off the sock, stuffing it into his bag and putting on another one. When Emily gave him a look, he shrugged. "You never said the _entire_ day. Next time, you should be more clear when making bets."

**She looked over at JJ for some support, but instead got a shrug. "You made a bet with a genius, you should've seen it coming."**


	18. Cookies

**Prompt:** Cookies  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**XVIII: Cookies**

Garcia walked up to Spencer's desk, crossing her arms and tapping her toes, waiting for him to look up. He finally did and raised an eyebrow, setting down his pen.

"What can I do for you, Garcia?"

"I'm glad you asked!" she leaned against his desk, crossing her arms. "JJ just asked me if I could babysit on Saturday so she and Will could finish their Christmas shopping and go on a date night."

"...Did you say yes?" he asked.

"I did… but I'm not the person Henry wants to see."

"Excuse me?"

She smiled. "I told her I'd do it, but she wanted to know if you'd join me, because Henry wants to see Uncle Spence. She said it's been a while and if you don't say yes, she's going to start a guilt trip."

He rolled his eyes. "What time should I be there?"

She clapped her hands together. "Thank you! I'll pick you up at your apartment around noon, and bring your appetite."

He tried questioning her but shook his head. "Can't wait."

After Garcia walked away, Emily smirked. "So, a Saturday with Garcia and Henry - it sounds like you're in for a good time."

"...We'll see."

Saturday afternoon, Spencer was sitting on the couch with Henry, watching cartoons, while Garcia was looking around in the kitchen.

"What are you doing in there?" Spencer called out during a commercial.

"Just making sure she has everything," Garcia told him, taking a few cookie sheets out from the cabinet and setting them on top of the stove.

Spencer looked down at Henry. "Do we go see what Aunt Penelope is up to?"

Henry thought about it before nodding. "Uh huh."

Spencer patted his back and got off of the couch, walking out to the kitchen, Henry taking his hand and squeezing it. Smiling, he turned the corner and saw that Garcia had several baking supplies scattered on the counter.

"...Do I want to know?" Spencer asked.

She nodded, taking a bag of Christmas cookie cutters out of her purse. "Tis the season to make delicious sugar cookies." She looked at Henry. "What do you say, do you want to help make them and then decorate too?"

The little boy nodded enthusiastically and she smiled, ruffling his hair. "Go wash your hands and we'll get started."

He bolted to the bathroom and Spencer turned to her. "Christmas cookies?"

"What? It's better than teaching him Physics Magic."

Spencer mixed the ingredients, Garcia rolled out the dough, and Henry was put in charge of making the shapes with the cutters. Garcia laid them out on the pan and set a timer, turning to Henry.

"When that dings, I need you to tell me so I can take them out of the oven, okay? I don't want you in the kitchen when the oven's on."

"Uh huh, then we make them pretty?"

Spencer laughed softly. "Yes, once they're out of the oven and cooled down, you can make them pretty. Now, I _think_ Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown is on right now. If I recall, that's somebody's _favorite_ Christmas movie."

Henry gasped. "Mine!" He took Spencer's hand and practically dragged him to the living room, sitting on the couch.

Garcia put the pans in the oven and closed the door, picking up the timer and walking to the living room, setting it on the table and sitting on Henry's other side. Looking down, she realized that he was completely enthralled by the movie.

"How did you know it was his favorite?" she whispered.

"I babysat him in the summer and he insisted on watching it."

"Shh," Henry said, putting his finger to his lips.

When the timer went off, Henry turned to look at Garcia, but before he could speak, she got up, turning the timer off. "You finish enjoying Charlie Brown, and by the time it's over, we can decorate the cookies, deal?"

He nodded, looking back at the TV, and she walked out to the kitchen, taking the cookies out of the oven and setting them on the stovetop, before putting them on a cooling rack. She walked back out and took the seat beside him, watching the movie. Henry had climbed into Spencer's lap and she smiled as he grabbed Spencer's hand, wrapping it around him.

"Comfortable, Boy Wonder?"

He shrugged. "As long as he is, that's what matters, right?"

After the movie finished, Garcia patted Henry's knee. "Cookie decorating time!"

He immediately shot up, running to the kitchen table and taking a seat. "Uncle Spence, come on!"

Spencer smiled, pushing himself up and walking out, taking the seat next to him. He opened the containers that Garcia had put out, looking at everything she'd bought for decorating: there were red, green, and white frostings, a variety of sprinkles and candies, as well as icing.

"You really do enjoy going all out, don't you?"

"It's a gift." She put all of the cookies on a plate, setting it on the table and sitting across from them. "And now, we decorate." She turned to Henry. "How about you make one for you, one for Mommy, and one for Daddy?"

He nodded, grabbing one that was shaped like a Christmas tree and spreading on green frosting, putting on several candies to look like ornaments.

Spencer, who had been decorating his own cookie, a snowman, peeked over. "That's really cool, Henry."

Henry smiled, putting on some green sprinkles.

"What are you doing over there, Aunt Penelope?" Spencer asked, drawing a shirt on his snowman in icing.

She held it up. "Only the coolest stocking ever." He glanced up and saw that she had used white icing, but several colors of glitter sprinkles and icing to make animal print.

"It's very you."

"I thought so too."

Once they were done, they cleaned up the mess and put all of the cookies into a container, watching other Christmas movies until Will and JJ got back. JJ walked inside, going directly to her room with Will and setting down their shopping bags. Luckily, since Henry was distracted by the TV, he didn't notice. She walked out, kissing the top of Henry's head and rubbing his arm.

"Did you have fun with your godparents today?" she asked.

He nodded. "I did something!"

She looked between the two of them. "...Am I going to like this something, or is there something you two need to share with me?"

"We're innocent," Spencer assured her.

Garcia shrugged. "Innocent-_ish_."

Henry got up from the couch, taking JJ's hand and walking out to the kitchen. He pointed to the container and looked up at her. "Made you a tree!"

"Oh, did you?" She opened it and took out the Christmas tree cookie, smiling. "This is for me?" When he nodded, she looked down at it. "It's the _best_ Christmas tree cookie I've ever seen. What about Daddy?"

"What about Daddy?" Will asked, walking over.

Henry looked through and took out a candy cane with red and green stripes, holding it out to him. "Candy cane for Daddy."

Will took it and kissed the top of his head before taking a bite. "Is this what you and your godparents did today?"

He nodded. "It was fun."

"I'll bet." She kissed his forehead before turning to the living room. "How long before my son's crashing from this hyperactive sugar high?"

Garcia thought to herself, picking up her purse. "I'd say about an hour. Good luck."

Before JJ could get another word in, Garcia grabbed Spencer's hand and barely gave him time to wave before walking out the door.


	19. Santa

**Prompt:** Santa  
**Pairing:** JJ/Will

* * *

**XIX: Santa**

The team was going through their paperwork and, to pass the time, everyone was talking about their weekend plans.

"What, Prentiss, another sin-to-win weekend coming up?" Derek asked.

She mock laughed. "If there were, I wouldn't tell you. Unfortunately, my mother's going to be in town. You met her, so you know I'd rather get a root canal with no novocaine. What about you, Reid? I'm sure your plans are far better than wanting to swerve into traffic."

He raised an eyebrow. "Compared to you, I'm having a very uneventful weekend. I'm working on coursework for my Philosophy degree and finishing the semester."

"How many more semesters until you're done?"

He thought to himself. "One more after this one."

Derek exhaled. "All those degrees, you're making the rest of us look bad with our single degrees."

He shrugged. "That's unfortunate. What are you doing this weekend?"

"It's just me and my TV, watching the Blackhawks game with Clooney."

"That sounds… eventful."

"It sure as hell beats a case in anywhere, USA."

"Indeed," Emily mumbled. She saw JJ entering the bullpen and looked up. "What about you, JJ, any plans for the weekend?"

JJ smiled, leaning against Emily's desk. "Will and I are taking Henry to see Santa for the first time."

"You never took him before?"

She shook her head. "We always got too busy, and he was too little to appreciate it. This year, he's all excited."

"_Please_ tell me you're sharing the picture?" Emily asked. "It sounds like it's going to be an adorable experience."

"As if I could hide something like that from Garcia? You'll see it Monday morning."

"Good luck dealing with all of the screaming little ones waiting in line for Santa," Derek warned her.

"Believe me, I'm not looking forward to it."

Saturday morning, Will and JJ weren't surprised to have Henry jumping on their bed excitedly, announcing that he was going to see Santa. Luckily for JJ, Will was the one to get out of bed with him, giving her a few more minutes of peace. Once she was awake, they had breakfast, and then JJ put on Henry's Christmas outfit which Garcia had picked out, complete with a Christmas sweater. Once they made it to the mall, Henry grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the car. She smiled, picking him up and resting him against her hip, walking through the mall. Surprisingly, the line wasn't _too_ long, which made the experience much easier on them.

Henry hummed to himself and Will looking down, ruffling his hair. "What are you gonna ask Santa for, Henry?"

"Books!"

"Too much time with Uncle Spence," JJ mumbled, before rubbing his back. "What else?"

"Um… toys! Dinosaurs!"

"Good choice," Will said, patting his back and motioning him to move forward in the line.

When they finally made it to the front, Henry gasped, excitedly running over and climbing in Henry's lap. JJ smiled, standing by the photographer and watching him talk to Santa. She leaned into Will's side, listening in on their conversation. Henry was never overly social, but apparently when it came to Santa, you couldn't shut him up.

He finally told Santa what he wanted and posed for a few pictures. Once he was done, the Santa handed him a candy cane and told him to keep being a good boy for Mommy and Daddy. He nodded as his answer, climbing down and running over to JJ.

"I did it!"

She picked him up, kissing his cheek. "You did! Did you have fun?"

He nodded, wrapping his arms around her neck. "I like Santa! He gave me this!" he told them, holding up a lollipop.

Will patted his back, laughing softly. "He must _really_ like you. How 'bout we go see your pictures, huh?"

When Henry clapped his hands together, they walked over to the computers with the pictures.

She clicked her tongue. "I don't know, Henry, which do you like?"

He sucked on the lollipop, pointing to one of them. "That one!"

JJ turned to Will. "Do we have our Christmas card?"

He nodded. "I think we do." He pointed to the picture and looked at the girl behind the computer. "This one, please, in the third package?"

"No problem." She printed off the pictures and, after Will paid, they waited for their pictures.

"What do you say, Henry?" JJ asked, looking down at him. "Do you want to do this again next year?"

He nodded enthusiastically and Will looked at her. "New tradition?"

She kissed his cheek. "You bet."


	20. Sledding

**Prompt:** Sledding  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**XX: Sledding**

"What do you mean you've never gone sledding?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow, looking up at Derek. "I fail to see what's hard to grasp. I grew up in Las Vegas, we didn't really _have_ winters, considering the lowest temperature I can recall around Christmas was about 55 degrees."

He turned to Emily. "Can you believe this?"

She shrugged. "It's not hard to grasp. He never experienced winters until he moved to D.C., and I'm sure his priority wasn't 'what I really need to do to settle in his go sledding'."

Spencer laughed softly and Derek turned to him. "What are you doing this weekend?"

He thought to himself. "I'm going to the library, why?"

"Because you're canceling those plans and you're going sledding."

He turned to Emily. "...He's going to be 40, and he insists on going sledding… does this count as a mid-life crisis?"

He mock laughed. "_No_, but consider it something to cross off of your bucket list."

"Oh yes, right under 'jumping out of an airplane'."

"Hey, whatever you want to do-"

Spencer rolled his eyes. "No. What time am I meeting you, and where?"

"The hill behind my house at about noon on Saturday." He glanced at Emily. "Are you in?"

"Oh I am _so_ in. Mind if I invite the rest of the team?"

"...So my embarrassment needs to be broadcasted?"

She shook her head. "No, but I think we could all do with a little bit of letting loose."

He sighed. "Fine."

On Saturday morning, Derek took his sleds out of the basement of his house and set them in the backyard. He grabbed the hot cocoa mix from the cabinet and put it beside the stove, along with several mugs. He put a sign on his front door, telling everyone to come around to the back of the house. Sitting on the back porch, he watched as everyone started showing up. JJ had brought Henry, and he was completely bundled up. After them, Spencer came, dressed up in layers. Shortly after, Emily, Garcia, and Hotch had come, Jack in tow. Finally, Rossi got there, sitting on the back porch.

"What, Rossi, not much of a sledder?" Derek asked.

He shook his head, putting his hands up. "I'm an active observer."

"Whatever you say, man, we'll have the fun without you," he said, clapping him on the shoulder and walking down the steps, grabbing a sled and trudging to the top of the hill.

He looked around at everyone, pointing to the bottom of the hill. "Okay, who's first?"

Emily looked and saw nobody volunteering. She scoffed, picking up her sled and setting it on the floor, sitting down on it. "Bunch of babies. Somebody give me a push."

JJ looked at Henry, motioning toward her and Henry ran up behind her, pushing her down and watching, clapping his hands together.

Spencer laughed, giving him a high five. "What do you say, Henry? Want to go down with me for my first time?"

Henry thought about it before nodding, taking his hand. Spencer climbed in the sled, Henry sitting in front of him. He wrapped his arms around the boy, using his foot to kick off and go down the hill. At first he closed his eyes, but when he heard Henry cheering, he opened them, watching as they went down the hill together. When they came to a complete stop, he stood up, helping Henry up.

"Wasn't that scary, was it?" Spencer asked him.

Henry shook his head. "Again!"

He glanced up to the top of the hill, sighing. "Derek Morgan, you had better have a heating pad ready for my knee, making me trudge up there however many times it'll happen."

Derek laughed, calling down to the bottom of the hill. "We'll see, Pretty Boy."

Everyone took several turns going down the hill, both in pairs and by themselves. Henry took turns with both of his godparents and then his mom, while Jack went with his dad and took several turns going down on his own. Garcia, of course, had insisted on a few trips down with her chocolate Thor to protect her, and JJ had dragged Spencer with her a few times. They would all gladly admit that this was just what they needed to let loose and get their minds off of work for a while.

On Spencer's last trip down, Derek had hopped on the back of his sled, adding more weight and making them go faster. When they reached the bottom, their sled ended up wobbling and tipping over, both of them ending face down in the snow. When he sat up, Spencer swatted at him.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Oh, you're _so_ welcome, because the look on your face right now is _priceless._"

After they were all done, they sat in Derek's living room, sipping cocoa and wrapping themselves in blankets to warm up.

"What do you say, Rossi?" Emily asked, setting down her mug, "who was the most entertaining?"

"Besides Reid and Morgan on that last run? I think it goes to you and JJ, falling over halfway down the hill and sliding down on your backs."

JJ rubbed her back with her blanket. "I'm glad we entertained you."

"So, Morgan," Hotch started, "new tradition, yearly sledding day in your backyard?"

He nodded, giving him a thumbs up. "Sounds good to me."


	21. Snowman

**Prompt:** Snowman  
**Pairing:** Hotch/Beth

* * *

**XXI: Snowman**

One day, Hotch was ready to go through his morning routine of dropping Jack off at school and then heading to the BAU. Unfortunately, it had snowed a lot overnight, and this meant that Jack's school made it a snow day. He called Jessica about taking him, but she ended up being sick. Rather than panic, he used one of his sick days and decided to stay home with Jack, giving him some much needed time with his son.

"Dad, can we go to the park?" Jack asked, finishing his oatmeal.

Hotch shrugged, sipping his coffee. "I don't see why not. Go get ready, we'll leave in a few minutes."

"...Can Beth come?"

He smiled slightly, nodding. "I think she'd like that. Tell you what? I'll give her a call while you're getting ready, we'll see what she says."

He put his bowl in the sink before running to his room, closing the door behind him.

Hotch took out his phone, calling Beth and leaning against the counter.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Beth," he started, crossing his arms.

"To what does one owe this early morning phone call?"

He laughed softly. "The man you're dating can't just call and say hello?"

"Oh believe me, he can. He just doesn't. I know him better than that."

"I'm sorry, which of us is the profiler?"

"I believe that's you. What's going on?"

"Jack wants to know if you're up to anything today. He has a snow day and I called into work to spend the day with him, and he wants you to come to the park with us."

"So, just Jack wants to spend the day with me? Nobody else?"

He chuckled. "Well, I suppose spending time with you wouldn't hurt."

"I thought so. What time are you heading out?"

"Probably a half hour."

She clicked her tongue. "Tell you what? I'll meet you there."

"See you soon." He hung up, walking to his bedroom and closing the door.

The two of them walked to the park and Hotch turned to him. "What do you want to do to today, buddy?"

He thought before looking up at Hotch. "Can we make a snowman?"

"I think that sounds like a _great_ idea. Do you want to wait for Beth?"

"Well she _does_ know art," Jack pointed out.

Hotch laughed. "I can't argue with that logic."

Beth came a few minutes later, grabbing a snowball and throwing it at Hotch to get his attention. He turned around and shook his head. "Childish antics, really?"

She shrugged, giving him a quick kiss. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Jack gave her a hug and looked up at her. "Can you help us make a snowman, Beth?"

Beth turned to Hotch, who shrugged. "He says we need your expertise, because you know art."

"He's a smart kid." She turned to Jack. "How about your dad starts on the bottom, I'll do the middle, and you work on the head?"

He nodded, starting to roll his snowball.

Before long, the three of them had the perfect sized snowballs of snow to build their snowman. Jack chose the perfect spot for it and pointed to it for Hotch to move his large snowball over there. Beth was next, picking hers up, with Hotch's help, and setting it on top. Finally, Hotch picked up Jack, letting him set the head on top.

"What are we going to put on him, Jack?" Beth asked, looking at him.

He put up his finger before taking off his gloves, reaching in his pocket, taking out a carrot and an old scarf. "His nose and a scarf!"

Hotch smiled, picking him up again and letting him put them on. "What about eyes, a mouth, and arms?"

"Rocks and sticks!"

"Good idea. How about I go find the sticks while you and Beth hunt down enough rocks for it?"

He nodded, taking Beth's hand and running off.

Hotch had the easy job finding the arms, putting them in the snowman's sides and waiting for them to come back. Bending down, he made a snowball, ready for Beth's return. When he saw Jack running back with a handful of rocks, Beth close behind him, he ducked behind a tree. Once Beth passed by, he threw it at her, immediately hiding again.

She shook her head, dusting the snow off of her back. "Really, Aaron?"

He shrugged. "Consider it payback." He walked over, helping Jack in the eyes and mouth. Stepping back, he took it in, eyebrows raised. "I think we did a good job. What do you say, Jack?"

Jack nodded, giving Beth a high five.

Hotch took out his phone, taking a picture of Jack with it.

"Beth, do you want to come home and watch movies with me and Dad?" Jack asked, looking up at her.

She smiled. "I would _love_ to."

The three of them spent the rest of their day sitting on the couch in Hotch's apartment, enjoying some cocoa and Christmas specials. Hotch definitely preferred this to another day of monotony in the BAU.


	22. Sleigh Bells

**Prompt:** Jingle Bells/Sleigh Bells  
**Pairing:** Emily/Spencer

* * *

**XXII: Jingle Bells/Sleigh Bells**

Spencer saw Emily getting stressed by the job and knew she needed to unwind. To help, he decided to set up a date night for the two of them that coming weekend. The two of them bundled up, Spencer in his coat and scarf, while Emily wore a coat, scarf, mittens, and a beanie. He drove them to the park and parked his car, turning to her.

"Ready?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Date night is here?" she asked, pointing out the window to the snow covered park. "Really?"

He smiled at her. "What, don't you trust me?"

She eyed the park one last time before kissing his cheek, getting out of the car and closing the door behind her. Spencer walked around, taking her hand and squeezing before walking around.

"At least it's not too cold?" he offered, wrapping his arm around her waist.

She smiled. "That it isn't, and they actually put down salt so it isn't slippery."

He nodded, kissing the top of her head and continuing their walk.

When Spencer came to a sudden stop, Emily looked at him, curious. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you where I planned for our date night."

"...Here?"

He shook his head, pointing. "There."

She looked where he was pointing and bit down on her lip, smiling. Standing a few feet away from them was a horse-drawn carriage, all done up for Christmas with bells and garland. "You're serious?"

"Absolutely. I know how much you like horses and thought this would be a good idea."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. "No, it's a _great_ idea."

He led her over to the carriage and got in first, so he could help her into it. He took a seat and she sat beside him. As he wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into his embrace, smirking.

"Once around the park, please?" Spencer asked.

The coachman nodded before tightening the reins.

Spencer leaned back, kissing the top of Emily's head and rubbing her arm. "Feeling okay?"

She nodded. "Better now, thanks." She tilted her head up and kissed his cheek, before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "We all have our bad days, right?"

"We do. And from personal experience, I know that holding it in doesn't help, so if you want to put anything out in the open, I'm all ears."

She took a deep breath before looking down at her hands. "Sometimes, this job sucks," she put plainly. "There's nothing else to it. It just really sucks."

"Believe me, I get it." He kissed the top of her head. "And anytime you need to vent your frustrations or talk or just need someone to hold you to get your mind off of everything, I'm here, I promise."

She smiled appreciatively, wrapping her arms around him.

The two of them kept up small talk for most of the ride. At one point, it had started snowing and Emily shook her head, grinning.

"What is it?" Spencer asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We're so cliché we're a Christmas song," she said, giggling to herself.

"Excuse me?"

She turned to him. "Really? You have no idea and I get to educate _you_ for a change?"

"...Yes?"

"It starts out 'Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh'," she started, motioning toward them in the carriage. "We're _officially_ Jingle Bells."

He smiled, impressed. "I'm sure it's not the most cliché thing we'll ever do as a couple."

"Let's hope not." She rested her head on his shoulder, linking her arm in his and smiling.

As he helped her out of the carriage, he looked up at her. "Did it help?"

She stepped on the ground, turning to him. "Help what?"

"Did it relieve the stress, you know, talking about it, but also getting your mind off of it for a while?"

She smiled, kissing his cheek. "It really did, thank you. You're kind of the perfect person to date."

"...Thank you?"  
**"****You're very welcome." She took his hand, squeezing it. "Now, come on. I'm coffee's on me."**


	23. Christmas Songs

**Prompt:** Carols/Christmas Songs  
**Pairing:** Derek/Emily

* * *

**XXIII: Carols**

JJ walked around the bullpen, setting envelopes on the team members' desks, their names written on the front in Henry's handwriting.

Emily picked it up, eyebrow raised. "What's this?"

"An invitation," she put plainly, leaning against her desk.

"From Henry?" Spencer asked, flipping it over and inspecting it.

She nodded, crossing her arms. "He wanted me to give those to all of his aunts and uncles. He specifically asked me to do it today so you have enough notice."

"Notice for…?" Derek asked, taking the invitation she held out to him.

"Open them and find out."

Spencer was the first to open his envelope, pulling out the card that showed a picture Henry drew on the front.

"Be careful, guys," Emily started, peeking over, "he's suckering you in with adorable Christmas art. It's going to be something bad."

While Derek laughed, JJ rolled her eyes. Spencer opened the card, reading it. "...His kindergarten class is putting on a Christmas pageant."

"And he wants all of us to be there?" Derek verified. She nodded and he sighed, opening his card and checking the date and time.

"It's this Friday morning, and Hotch already gave me permission to pull all of you out of work for it, if you're interested in coming," she said hopefully.

Emily looked up at her. "What exactly happens at this pageant?"

She shrugged. "They all sing Christmas carols and do little sketches they've been rehearsing the last couple of weeks in class. He even has a Christmas sweater that looks like a Christmas tree. Now, come on. I already have a yes from Pen. Don't make me call up the nanny and have to disappoint him."

"Free guilt trip!" Derek announced.

JJ swatted at his arm and sighed. "Come on guys, please? It's bad enough Will couldn't switch his shift and can't make it. Henry's absolutely heartbroken that his dad can't make it and he needs a support system there."

Spencer folded up his card. "Count me in."

Emily put up her hand. "Me too."

JJ turned to Derek and he sighed after receiving a glare from Emily. "Me three."

On Friday morning, Derek was looking through his closet. "You're seriously making me wear red and green for this?"

"Yes," Emily snapped at him. "Henry doesn't ask a lot from his aunts and uncles, and if he wants us to be there, we're going to show our support."

"Aren't we showing our support by showing up?"

She gave him a look. "Garcia's probably going to show up dressed like a Christmas tree herself. We need to at least do something."

"Garcia is also one of his godparents," he tried to argue. He saw her giving him another look and he put up his hands, turning back to his closet, taking out a red shirt. He turned toward her after pulling it on. "Satisfied?"

She put on her green sweater. "Ecstatic. Now come on, we're going to be late."

When the two of them got to the school, JJ waved her arm, flagging them over to take the two empty seats beside her in the front row. Emily sat next to her.

"Is everyone else on their way?"

She nodded. "Garcia and Spence are backstage giving him a little pep talk, Rossi's going to be here soon, and Hotch is coming once he drops off Jack."

Derek leaned back, wrapping an arm around Emily.

She turned to him. "Would you rather be doing paperwork?"

"Definitely not."

"Then don't look so miserable."

JJ laughed softly, shaking her head. "At least you two didn't even _try_ to hide it."

"Yeah, because we saw how badly you sucked at it," Derek said.

Garcia and Spencer came out a few minutes later, taking their seats, soon followed by Rossi and Hotch. When Will sat down beside her, she squealed excitedly, wrapping her arms around him.

"I thought you couldn't make it!"

"And miss my boy's acting debut? Come on now." He kissed her cheek and wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her arm.

The pageant was everything they'd expected from a kindergarten production: kids forgetting the words, walking on stage the wrong way, getting confused, and just standing there with their hands in their pockets. Henry, however, was doing surprisingly well. He remembered the words to most of the songs and when he started, he looked in the front row and stopped, waving to his cheering section, blowing a kiss to his parents.

"Okay," Derek whispered to Emily, as the kids were singing, or attempting, Silent Night. "This isn't _so _bad. It's actually kind of cute."

She smirked, kissing his cheek. "Look at you, you big softie," she whispered.

He rolled his eyes, squeezing her arm. "You owe me for saying yes to this."

She patted his cheek. "We'll see."

Once the pageant was done, Henry ran over, hugging his parents.

"I do good?!" he asked.

Will ruffled his hair, smiling. "You did great, buddy. Now, Mommy's going to get you after school, all right?"

Henry turned to her, holding up his pinky and she smiled, taking it in her own, kissing his forehead. "Have a good day at school, okay?"

"Uh huh!" He hugged them again before waving to everyone else. "Thank you for coming!"

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world, little man," Garcia said, kissing her hand and putting it on his cheek. "You did great?"

"Really?" he asked, turning to Spencer.

Spencer gave him a thumbs up. "Super."

He smiled, blushing, waving to them before returning to the rest of the class.

JJ stood up, turning to the team. "Okay, guys, I owe you all one." She turned to Derek and Emily. "When you have kids, consider me front row for their first play."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Emily chuckled, giving JJ a thumbs up. "Much appreciated."


	24. Chestnuts

**Prompt:** Chestnuts  
**Pairing:** N/A

* * *

**XXIV: Chestnuts**

Garcia had invited the team over to her apartment on Christmas Eve, considering nobody had any plans and she wanted all of them to be together for something that wasn't work-related. She had taken the day off of work, instead of opting to leave early like the rest of them, to give her time to cook up festive foods for them. She'd successfully completed all of the dishes before everyone showed up, and walked to the living room, opening the door and letting everyone into her apartment.

"What smells so good, sweetness?" Derek asked, pulling off his jacket and kissing her cheek.

She smirked. "Aside from you, of course? That would be delicious holiday food that comes with a side of my heart and soul."

"I'm sure everything's delicious," Spencer assured her, hanging up his scarf and jacket.

"And that's why you're my favorite, Boy Wonder!"

"...Thank you?"

She laughed. "It's a good thing. My favorites get what they requested for dessert."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Peppermint bark is currently cooling in my fridge," she told him, patting his arm. "Now, Chinese food is on its way, make yourselves comfortable."

While the team was poking around in their Chinese food, Hotch looked over at her.

"You really took the day off to make individual baked goods?"

She nodded. "It's a mommy gene I was born with. I may not have children, but I feel compelled to take care of my family and spoil them, and the best way to do that is through the stomachs."

"So you're trying to plump us up?" Emily said with a laugh.

She shrugged. "It's the holidays. If you don't gain weight, you're not doing it right."

Rossi looked over at her, curious. "...Since when is that a thing?"

"Since always. It's an unwritten, official holiday season rule. Though, if you'd like, I can get you a fruit salad and throw away your dessert, if you're watching your figure."

Everyone laughed and he chuckled, putting up his hands. "I'm not disputing, it's just curiosity."

Once they were done with dinner and had watched some specials, Garcia stood up. "Dessert time!"

"This should be interesting," Emily mumbled, sitting up straight and waiting for her to come back.

Garcia came back several minutes later with a six separate containers in her hands.

"First and foremost?" she held the top one out to Spencer. "Peppermint bark with extra dark chocolate for the Boy Wonder, considering it's his favorite holiday treat and it disappears as soon as Christmas is over, so he needs just say the word and I'll make him another batch."

He smiled appreciatively, opening up the container and taking a bite. "Thank you."

Next, she handed one to Emily. "For our little world traveler, Italian trifle, complete with all of her favorite things."

Emily opened it and looked at it, impressed. "PG, you _are_ amazing."

Derek checked his container and smirked. "Mini apple pies?"

"Of course! They're your favorite and I couldn't resist giving you a few to toss in the freezer and warm up whenever you want it."

He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head. "Thank you, beautiful."

She looked over at JJ. "Okay, I'll admit it, I sort of cheated on you and Hotch. It's for you and the little ones."

JJ shared a look with Hotch before they checked what she'd made. "Oh, PG, he's going to _love_ these!"

Emily peeked over. "Oh, the sugar high your little ones are going to have from those cookies is going to _suck_!"

"Permission to share these with Beth as well?" Hotch asked, holding them up.

"Permission granted, I hope she likes them."

Finally, Rossi looked up at her. "Don't tell me, you're handing me a bowl of chestnuts, because the old timer sticks to The Christmas Song and likes chestnuts on an open fire."

She shook her head. "Not exactly, though it _was_ tempting." She held it out to him, smirking. "I put the most work into yours, so I _really_ hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will, kitten." He pulled off the lid and turned to her. "And when I told you I liked chestnuts, that translated to chocolate cake?"

"Oh ye of little faith!" she exclaimed, feigning pain. "_That_ is no chocolate cake. _That_ is a chocolate chestnut torte, which I searched for high and wide. Incorporating chestnuts into recipes is bit of a pain, but you were worth the struggle."

He reached for a fork on the table, eyeing one of the slices before putting in the fork and picking some off, taking a bite. He looked up at Garcia, nodding his approval. "Though, there's one problem with it."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, no. You don't like the almonds? Too much chocolate? What about-"

He put up his hand, laughing softly. "No, the fact that it's eventually going to be gone."

She beamed, clapping her hands together. "Oh, don't worry, now that I've found something that the great David Rossi approves of? It'll _definitely_ be happening again."


	25. Christmas Movies

**Prompt:** Christmas Movies  
**Pairing:** Derek/Spencer

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who enjoyed reading these, I'm glad you did. Writing this was a lot of fun, and it was interesting to try out different pairings and situations. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

* * *

**XXV: Christmas Music/Movies**

Spencer felt Derek shaking his arm, but he knew he must be joking - they actually had a day off, and he was going to sleep in for a change. When the shaking only persisted, he groaned loudly, turning his head to face Derek and glaring at him.

"_What_?!" he snapped.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," Derek said, smiling at him and kissing his forehead.

Spencer whimpered, turning to the alarm clock on his nightstand. "There's nothing 'merry' about 6:45 in the morning on a day off."

Derek kissed his cheek, whispering in his ear. "There's coffee brewing, cinnamon rolls being baked, and presents to be opened."

Spencer glared again. "And they'll all still be there after I've slept!"

Derek rubbed his arm. "I'll tell you what? If you wake up, have some breakfast, and open your presents without being a major Grinch, the two of us will stay in bed together afterward until we have to leave for Rossi's."

Spencer thought about it before sighing, sitting up and pushing the blankets off of himself. "You're lucky I love you," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. He rested a hand on Derek's cheek, moving in and kissing him softly. "Merry Christmas."

The two of them sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and drinking coffee, giving Spencer time to wake up. Once he did, they relocated to the living room, sitting in front of the tree. Before they could start opening presents, Derek leaned over, turning on his Christmas playlist on his iPod.

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

He pointed to the speakers. "Making it as Christmas-y as possible while we open gifts."

"Because opening Christmas gifts and being upset while opening our credit card bills next month isn't going to be enough of an indicator that it's 'Christmas-y'?"

Derek smirked. "Just humor me."

Spencer shook his head. "Sometimes, I swear, _I'm_ the adult in this relationship," Spencer told him as 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' started playing.

He shrugged. "It's not always a bad thing to be a kid, especially at Christmas time."

Spencer laughed softly, handing Derek his first present. "If you say so."

Once they were done exchanging gifts and 'thank you's, as promised, they laid in bed together. Spencer wrapped Derek's arms around him, resting his head on his chest.

"Did you like it?" Derek asked, kissing the top of his head and rubbing his arm.

Spencer nodded against his chest, smiling. "I really did. I appreciate that you paid for a flight to Vegas in a few months so we can go visit my mom, and I'm sure you liked the Blackhawks tickets-"

"_Liked_ is an understatement."

He smirked. "Well, I'm glad."

Later that afternoon, the two of them changed out of their pajamas, and Derek drove them over to Rossi's mansion. The one rule of their gathering was that every person, or pair if they came as a couple, had to bring their favorite Christmas movie to watch on his big screen.

"Which movie did you pick?" Derek asked, turning to him at a red light.

Spencer took the DVD out of his bag, showing it to him.

Derek smirked. "_The Nightmare Before Christmas_? I wasn't aware you were a Burton fan."

"Though it was originally Burton's idea and story? Henry Selick directed it, as Tim Burton was too busy working on Batman Returns."

Derek put up his hands. "My mistake."

Spencer smiled. "And how could I not pick the movie? It combines my favorite holiday, Halloween, and your favorite holiday, Christmas."

"Touche."

When they arrived at Rossi's, they gave everyone hugs and 'Merry Christmas's before settling in the living room. Once everyone arrived, Rossi set out bottles of wine, along with scotch for himself and juice boxes for the kids.

"Are all of our movies appropriate?" he asked, picking up the DVDs and looking through them.

Garcia put up her hand. "Mine will have to wait until the little ones are asleep."

Emily glanced over at her. "...What in the world did you pick?"

"Let me guess," Rossi said, scanning the movies and holding up a case. "You?"

She nodded. "Guilty?"

JJ leaned in, reading the cover. "_Voyage of the Damned_? I've never heard of it."

"Oh, it's great," Spencer spoke up, leaning against Derek. "It's a Doctor Who Christmas special where the Doctor lands the TARDIS on a Titanic starliner, and its orbiting present day Earth, and-"

Derek put a hand over his mouth. "And we'll see for ourselves when we watch it."

Spencer rolled his eyes, pushing his hand off. "Thank you, _Derek_."

JJ sorted through them, humming to herself. "While we're in the presence of children? I say we start with this one." She said, holding up _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. "Whoever brought this is a saint, because it's Henry's favorite and his DVD started skipping a few days ago." Spencer held up his hand and she scoffed. "Of course, godfather of the year."

He shrugged, wrapping Derek's arm around himself. "I'm just that good."

They made it through _The Nightmare Before Christmas _and _Elf_ before Henry fell asleep, and they were halfway through _How the Grinch Stole Christmas!_ when Jack started getting tired. He stayed awake through the rest of it, before walking to one of Rossi's guest rooms and sleeping.

"If you want to leave with the tots, I'll understand," Rossi said, looking between the two of them.

Hotch shrugged. "He's fine, and besides, I want to see how there's a Titanic in the sky. You, JJ?"

"I'm with Hotch on this one."

Garcia clapped excitedly, putting in her DVD and sitting on the couch. "You can all see how great the Whovian world is."

"I already know," Derek spoke up, "Spencer insists that we _need_ to be home in time for this year's Christmas special."

"I have it on the DVR, but good thinking, 187!"

While they were watching the Christmas special, Spencer and Garcia were frequently answering questions that anyone on the team had about the show. Toward the end, Derek turned to her.

"...Did he just say Allons-y to that guy named Alonso?"

She nodded. "That he did."

"...And you said 'Allons-y' before hanging up on a call a couple of weeks ago… you Doctor Who'd me?"

"That I did. You're _very_ welcome."

He shook his head, smirking and squeezing Spencer's arm.

"So, this Christmas special is on at 9?" Rossi asked, turning to Spencer and Garcia. When they nodded, he sighed. "Want to just watch it here so you three aren't rushing home?"

Spencer nodded. "On BBC America, do you have that channel?"

Rossi gave him a look. "Does it _look_ like I don't have a channel?"

Everyone laughed at Spencer, making him blush and bury his head in Derek's chest. The rest of them spent the next hour and a half watching the special and watching the reactions of the two devout Whovians in their company.

When the two of them finally made it home, Derek let Clooney outside and then back in, before walking to the bedroom and changing into his pajamas. He laid down beside Spencer, wrapping his arms around him and kissing the back of his head.

Spencer turned to face him, smiling tiredly. "Merry Christmas, Derek," he whispered.

Derek kissed his forehead. "Merry Christmas, Pretty Boy."


End file.
